Marriage Equalityhttp://www.pfaw.org/
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:21:42 -0400Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:21:42 -0400Mat Staver: Roy Moore's Suspension Signals A Breakdown In Law That Will Eventually Destroy The Republichttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mat-staver-roy-moores-suspension-signals-breakdown-law-will-eventually-destroy-republic
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<p>Mat Staver, who represented Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in an ethics trial that recently ended in <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/roy-moore-suspended-defying-federal-courts-marriage-equality">his suspension from the court</a>, said yesterday that the verdict in the case shows that &ldquo;we&rsquo;re seeing the breakdown of the rule of law&rdquo; in America that will eventually lead to the &ldquo;dissolution of the entire republic.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Moore had attempted to stop federal marriage equality rulings from taking effect in his state, later making the flimsy excuse that he was merely providing judges in the state with a &ldquo;status update&rdquo; on the law, a claim that the state&rsquo;s Court of the Judiciary pointed out had been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/roy-moore-suspended-defying-federal-courts-marriage-equality">contradicted by Staver&rsquo;s own words</a>.</p>
<p>Staver <a href="http://www.vcyamerica.org/blog/2016/10/05/persecution-of-justice-roy-moore">was the guest</a> on VCY America&rsquo;s &ldquo;Crosstalk&rdquo; program when a listener called in to ask, &ldquo;If Judge Roy Moore can be suspended because of a frivolous complaint against him that has no merit, why doesn&rsquo;t Liberty Counsel file frivolous complaints against all the judges on the Supreme Court and have the Supreme Court wiped out, and the legislature will obviously have to do something about it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, responded that that strategy would never work &ldquo;because the deck is stacked&rdquo; against groups like his and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed an ethics complaint against Moore, would &ldquo;throw the rules out&rdquo; to go after him.</p>
<p>&ldquo;So what happens here is when the rule of law is thrown out and when people don&rsquo;t abide by the rule of law and they make it up as they go, then the outcome is predetermined,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That is the problem that ultimately breaks down the entire freedom and democracy that we have, in terms of our representative form of government, I should say. It breaks down the whole system.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;In fact,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;Thomas Jefferson said this: &lsquo;The seeds of dissolution lies in the judiciary.&rsquo; What does he mean by that? He means that if the judges, if the courts, don&rsquo;t restrain themselves and we the people don&rsquo;t restrain them within their confined duties, then that&rsquo;s where the seeds of dissolution of the entire republic are. And it will grow and grow and grow and grow, and eventually it will dissolve the entire republic of the United States of America. And that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re seeing, we&rsquo;re seeing the breakdown of the rule of law, and when they make it up as they go, it doesn&rsquo;t really matter. So that&rsquo;s the problem that we have in this case.&rdquo;</p>
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Miranda BlueC4Equality For AllLiberty Counsel Marriage EqualityMarriage EqualityMat Staver Roy Moore Fair and Just CourtsFighting the Right80396Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:21:42 -0500Marriage EqualityRoy Moore Suspended For Defying Federal Courts On Marriage Equalityhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/roy-moore-suspended-defying-federal-courts-marriage-equality
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<p>Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, famous for having lost his seat on the court in 2003 when he defied a federal order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building, has been sanctioned yet again by the state&rsquo;s Court of the Judiciary, which ordered today that Moore be <a href="http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/09/alabama_supreme_court_chief_ju.html">suspended without pay</a> for the remainder of his term in office, this time for defying federal court decisions on marriage equality.</p>
<p>Moore was already under temporary suspension&nbsp;<a href="http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/05/alabama_chief_justice_roy_moor_10.html">until the court heard his case</a>. The court <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/roymoore_finaljudgment_09302016.pdf">ruled unanimously</a> that the suspension be continued until Moore&rsquo;s term in office runs out&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wvtm13.com/article/supreme-court-justice-roy-moore-suspended-for-rest-of-term/4367789">in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>The Court of the Judiciary&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/roymoore_finaljudgment_09302016.pdf">ruling</a> is a brutal smackdown of the attempts by Moore and his attorney, Liberty Counsel&rsquo;s Mat Staver, to justify the chief justice&rsquo;s efforts to stop marriage equality from taking effect in his state.</p>
<p>The court&rsquo;s judges make clear in the ruling that their decision on Moore&rsquo;s case has nothing to do with their opinions about the Obergefell ruling, which they note &ldquo;some members of this court did not personally agree with or think was well reasoned.&rdquo;</p>
<p>However, they reject Moore&rsquo;s recent&nbsp;<a href="http://www.metroweekly.com/2016/09/alabama-supreme-court-justice-defends-ethics-violation-charges/">attempt to claim</a> that his <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/roy-moore-tries-block-gay-marriage-alabama-again">January order</a> requiring state probate judges to defy Obergefell and refrain from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples was nothing more than a &ldquo;status update&rdquo; on the law. In fact, they note that a press release from Staver himself the day the order was issued completely contradicts that claim:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Chief Justice Moore&rsquo;s arguments that his actions and words mean something other than what they clearly express is not a new strategy. In 2003, this court&rsquo;s order removing Chief Justice Moore quoted the following testimony from him before the [Judicial Inquiry Commission]:</p>
<p class="rteindent1">&ldquo;I did what I did because I upheld my oath. And that&rsquo;s what I did, so I have no apologies for it. I would do it again. I didn&rsquo;t say I would defy the court order. I said I wouldn&rsquo;t move the monument. And I didn&rsquo;t move the monument, which you can take as you will.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Just as Chief Justice Moore&rsquo;s decision that he &ldquo;wouldn&rsquo;t move the monument&rdquo; was, in fact, defiance of the federal court order binding him, a disinterested reasonable observer, fully informed of all the relevant facts, would conclude that the undeniable consequence of the January 6, 2016, order was to order and direct the probate judges to deny marriage licenses in direct defiance of the United States Supreme Court in <u>Obergefell </u>and the <u>Strawser</u> injunction.</p>
<p>Indeed, to see that the January 6, 2016, order can be reasonably read as requiring defiance of the United States Supreme Court and the district court in <u>Strawser</u>, we need to look no further than a press release issued by Mat Staver&mdash;Chief Justice Moore&rsquo;s own counsel in these proceedings and one of the counsel of record in <u>API</u>&mdash;that was issued the same day as the January 6, 2016, order. In that press release, which solely addressed the January 6, 2016 order, Staver asserted:</p>
<p class="rteindent1">&ldquo;In Alabama&hellip;state judiciaries&hellip;are standing up against the federal judiciary or any one [sic] else who wants to come up with some cockeyed view that somehow the Constitution now births some newfound notion of same-sex marriage.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Chief Justice Moore&rsquo;s contention that the only purpose and plausible reading of the January 6, 2016, order is that of a &ldquo;status update&rdquo; is entirely unconvincing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In fact, in a public <a href="http://www.lc.org/newsroom/details/093016-chief-justice-moore-suspended-for-term-by-coj">press release</a> this morning after the ruling came down, Staver claimed again that Moore&rsquo;s order was &ldquo;merely a status report"and, ironically, accused the court of throwing &ldquo;the rule of law out the window.&rdquo; However, in an email to Liberty Counsel supporters, he declared, &ldquo;Liberty Counsel upholds 'just' laws&mdash;and the moral law of God. In Alabama and across America, in state judiciaries and legislatures, Liberty Counsel's legal team is standing against the federal judiciary, resisting tyrannical rule, and upholding the moral law of God.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE: </strong>Moore<a href="http://www.theplainsman.com/article/2016/09/chief-justice-roy-moore-suspended-for-remainder-of-term"> released a statement</a> saying &ldquo;This was a politically motivated effort by radical homosexual and transgender groups to remove me as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court because of outspoken opposition to their immoral agenda.&rdquo;</p>
Miranda BlueC4Equality For AllLiberty Counsel Marriage EqualityMarriage EqualityMat Staver Roy Moore Fair and Just CourtsFighting the Right80116Fri, 30 Sep 2016 11:38:31 -0500Marriage EqualityMat Staver: Roy Moore Faces The 'Death Penalty'! (Of His Career)http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mat-staver-roy-moore-faces-death-penalty-his-career
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<p>Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is currently <a href="http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/09/live_updates_roy_moore_judicia.html">facing trial</a> before the state&rsquo;s Court of the Judiciary after a judicial ethics panel called for his removal from the bench due to his <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/roy-moore-tries-block-gay-marriage-alabama-again">efforts to defy the federal courts</a> on marriage equality.</p>
<p>Moore is being represented by Liberty Counsel attorney Mat Staver, who also represented Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in her efforts to defy the Supreme Court&rsquo;s Obergefell decision.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.faithradio.org/MeetingHouse">interview</a> with an Alabama Christian radio station yesterday, Staver insisted that the state&rsquo;s Judicial Inquiry Commission is seeking the &ldquo;death penalty&rdquo; for Moore in the sense that removing him from the bench would &ldquo;kill his career.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bob Crittenden, the host of &ldquo;Meeting House&rdquo; on the Alabama-based Faith Radio, asked Staver if the court could choose to take a less severe action against Moore than removing him from his post, which Staver said would be like a prosecutor asking for a first-degree murder charge and then changing her request when that doesn&rsquo;t work out.</p>
<p>What the commission is asking for, he said, &ldquo;is total removal, not anything less, not suspension, not punishment, not reprimand&mdash;total removal. They&rsquo;re asking for the highest penalty. They&rsquo;re asking, if you will, for the death penalty, in that sense, to kill his career, end his career. And I don&rsquo;t think they can punt and go back to some lesser issue.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He added that the process of being charged and suspended from his job has been punishment enough for Moore.</p>
<p>If past experience is any indication, being removed from the bench would far from &ldquo;kill&rdquo; Moore&rsquo;s career. Back in 2003, he was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/here-we-go-again-roy-moore-suspended-defying-gay-marriage-rulings">removed from the state supreme court</a> for flouting an order to remove a 10 Commandments statue from the state judicial building, which he followed up with an activist career, a number of political campaigns, and ultimately his reelection to the court.</p>
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Miranda BlueAlabamaC4Equality For AllLiberty Counsel Marriage EqualityMarriage EqualityMat Staver Roy Moore Fair and Just CourtsFighting the Right79976Wed, 28 Sep 2016 10:06:12 -0500Marriage EqualityReligious Right Leaders Vow To Defy Laws On Abortion, 'Sexual Perversion' In 'Declaration Of Dependence Upon God'http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-leaders-vow-defy-laws-abortion-sexual-perversion-declaration-dependence-upon
<p>A group of Religious Right activists, including prominent advocates of dominionism, have joined together to circulate a &ldquo;<a href="https://dependenceongod.com/">Declaration of Dependence upon God and His Holy Bible</a>&rdquo; in which signers vow to &ldquo;refuse any mandate by the government that forces us to fund or support abortion&rdquo; and to &ldquo;oppose same-sex marriage, polygamy, bestiality, and all other forms of sexual perversion prohibited by Holy Scripture.</p>
<p>Colorado Springs pastor Andrew Wommack, who wrote the pledge, <a href="https://dependenceongod.com/">says</a> that he will spend $500,000 promoting it online and in newspaper ads. On Sunday, Wommack&rsquo;s ministry bought a pricey full-page ad in the New York Times that showed the full text of the &ldquo;declaration&rdquo; and some of its most prominent signers.</p>
<p>Among those who have signed Wommack&rsquo;s pledge, according to the ad, is Religious Right activist <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/david-barton">David Barton</a>, who has been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-training-christian-college-students-conquer-mountain-government">teaching students</a> at a Bible college run by Wommack to retake the &ldquo;mountain&rdquo; of government in accordance with the Seven Mountains dominionist belief that conservative Christians must take control of the seven areas, or &ldquo;mountains,&rdquo; of society.</p>
<p>Other signers are <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/jerry-boykin">Jerry Boykin</a>, the executive vice president of the Family Research Council; Focus on the Family founder <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/james-dobson">James Dobson</a>; prominent televangelist <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/kenneth-copeland">Kenneth Copeland</a>; leading Seven Mountains advocate <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/lance-wallnau">Lance Wallnau</a>; prosperity gospel preacher <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/prosperity-gospel-pastor-is-asking-his-church-to-buy-him-a-65-million-jet-c1df63baa330#.zg1lc7f6u">Creflo Dollar</a>; and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/kelly-shackelford">Kelly Shackelford</a>, whose First Liberty Institute has been at the forefront of the narrative that conservative Christians are losing their religious liberty in America.</p>
<p>Another notable signer is Oklahoma state Sen. Nathan Dahm, who earlier this year <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/oklahoma-abortions-felony-223369">sponsored a bill</a> to make abortion a felony in the state, which was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/05/20/oklahoma-governor-vetoes-bill-that-would-make-it-a-felony-to-perform-abortions/?utm_term=.835330c9c492"> vetoed </a> by Republican Gov. Mary Fallin.</p>
<p>Among the signers are some prominent supporters of Donald Trump&rsquo;s presidential bid. Dobson and Copeland are members of <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-taps-michele-bachmann-james-dobson-other-far-right-leaders-advisory-board"> Trump&rsquo;s evangelical advisory board</a>. Boykin was recently one of the retired military leaders to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-touts-endorsement-far-right-activist-jerry-boykin">sign a letter supporting Trump</a>, which was promoted by the GOP nominee&rsquo;s campaign. Wallnau is <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/national-diversity-coalition-trump-exactly-what-youd-expect">a member</a> of the &ldquo;National Diversity Coalition for Trump&rdquo; who has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/lance-wallnau-trump-can-help-stop-satan-taking-control-seven-mountains"> argued</a> that Trump can help reclaim the &ldquo;seven mountains&rdquo; from Satan.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdAm1FXUAQc">video message</a>, Wommack says that he believes he was &ldquo;divinely inspired&rdquo; to write the declaration, warning that &ldquo;Satan is fighting for the heart and soul of this nation.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RdAm1FXUAQc" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bs93vOc1a4">Another video</a> promoting the declaration shows Fox News pundit Todd Starnes reacting to the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality decision, saying, &ldquo;The Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision means gay rights now trump religious liberty. If you think the cultural purging of the southern states has been breathtaking, wait until you see what the activists are about to release on American Christians.&rdquo; In the video, a young girl turns to her grandfather and asks, &ldquo;Grandpa, we&rsquo;re Christians, aren&rsquo;t we?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Wommack&rsquo;s declaration reads like a shorter version of the&nbsp;<a href="http://manhattandeclaration.org/man_dec_resources/Manhattan_Declaration_full_text.pdf">Manhattan Declaration</a>, a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rights-new-manhattan-project">2009 document</a> that joined conservative Catholic and evangelical leaders in a pledge to commit civil disobedience in the face of the supposed impending government persecution of Christians.</p>
<p>Here&rsquo;s the full text of the &ldquo;Declaration of Dependence upon God and His Holy Bible&rdquo;:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Since our Creator gave us these rights, we declare that no government has the right to take them away. Among these rights is the right to exercise our Christian beliefs as put forth in God&rsquo;s Holy Bible.</p>
<p>We therefore declare that God grants life at conception and no one has the right to take that life unless it is a direct threat to the life of the mother.</p>
<p>Marriage was instituted by God between one man and one woman. The Lord gave only this family unit the responsibility to have children and raise them in the fear of the Lord.</p>
<p>We therefore respectfully reserve the right to refuse any mandate by the government that forces us to fund or support abortion. We also oppose same-sex marriage, polygamy, bestiality, and all other forms of sexual perversion prohibited by Holy Scripture.</p>
<p>We proclaim that Jesus has provided the cure for all sin and therefore reach out to the sinner in love, but do not embrace the sin, knowing its destructive nature.</p>
<p>Therefore, we, the undersigned&mdash;not only as Christians but also believing we have the constitutional rights as Americans to follow these time honored Christian beliefs&mdash;commit to conducting our churches, ministries, businesses, and personal lives in accordance with our Christian faith and choose to obey God rather than man.</p>
</blockquote>
Miranda BlueAndrew WommackAnti-ChoiceAnti-GayC4First LibertyJames Dobson Jerry BoykinKelly Shackelford Kenneth CopelandLance Wallnaumanhattan declarationMarriage Equalityreligious persecution rhetoricReproductive HealthWallbuilders Creflo DollarDavid Barton Family Research CouncilFamily TalkFighting the Right79821Mon, 26 Sep 2016 10:00:28 -0500Marriage EqualityNOM Draws Tiny Crowd To Protest Mexico Marriage Equalityhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/nom-draws-tiny-crowd-protest-mexico-marriage-equality
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="1200" height="800" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/DSC_0007.JPG?1474652747" />
<p>The National Organization for Marriage&rsquo;s Brian Brown has been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/brian-brown-mobilizing-support-anti-equality-campaign-mexico">attempting to mobilize U.S. support</a> for activists in Mexico who are trying to stop President Enrique Pe&ntilde;a Nieto from putting marriage equality into the country&rsquo;s constitution.</p>
<p>However, like a lot of NOM&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pastor-says-dismal-turnout-noms-march-marriage-helps-satan-seals-americas-doom">recent</a> <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/29-revealing-photos-from-this-weekends-anti-gay-march-for-marriage-d3963ffa57e2#.onvhxv6l9">efforts</a>, this one doesn&rsquo;t seem to quite be catching on.</p>
<p>Today, NOM <a href="http://christiannewswire.com/news/2748978465.html">hosted a rally</a> in front of the Mexican embassy in Washington, D.C., along with the World Congress of Families, which Brown also <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/noms-brian-brown-lead-global-anti-lgbt-efforts-world-congress-families">now leads</a>, and CitizenGo, an international petition platform whose board Brown sits on.</p>
<p>The rally drew a grand total of 11 people, not counting a handful of children in strollers, bystanders and reporters:</p>
<p align="center"><img alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/DSC_0007.JPG" style="width: 500px; height: 333px;" /></p>
<p align="center"><img alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/DSC_0004.JPG" style="width: 500px; height: 333px;" /></p>
<p>Brown, who has said he is <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/brian-brown-mobilizing-support-anti-equality-campaign-mexico">traveling to Mexico City</a> for anti-marriage-equality marches there this weekend, was not in attendance. One activist who was there was Gualberto Garcia Jones, a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/personhood-movement-where-it-comes-and-what-it-means-future-choice">fetal &ldquo;personhood&rdquo; advocate</a> who now&nbsp;<a href="http://www.internationalhrgroup.org/about-us">runs an organization</a> called the International Human Rights Group, which shares a <a href="http://www.internationalhrgroup.org/contact-us">Washington</a> <a href="http://www.citizengo.org/en/presse">office</a> with Brown&rsquo;s CitizenGo.</p>
<p>At the rally, activists read a letter that they said they were delivering to the Mexican ambassador announcing that they were joining &ldquo;in spirit&rdquo; the protests this weekend led by the National Front for the Family.</p>
<p>The letter stated the group&rsquo;s support for &ldquo;natural marriage as a stable relationship between one man and one woman,&rdquo; saying that &ldquo;several scientific research studies&rdquo; have shown that this is the best environment for children. It claimed that &ldquo;extracting marriage from its procreative and educative purpose &hellip; weakens the legal, social and cultural fabric&rdquo; of a society. The letter also included a reference to adoption by gay couples and a plea to keep &ldquo;content and ideologies that do not belong to the public educative sphere&rdquo; out of school curricula, instead demanding that curricula be based on &ldquo;scientific criteria.&rdquo;</p>
Miranda BlueAnti-GayC4CitizenGoGualberto Garcia JonesInternationalInternational Human Rights GroupMarriage EqualityNational Organization for MarriageWorld Congress of Families Fighting the RightBrian Brown79781Fri, 23 Sep 2016 12:54:51 -0500Marriage Equality‘Welcome To The War’ – Jim Garlow’s New Book On ‘Biblical Applicationalism’http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/welcome-war-jim-garlow-s-new-book-biblical-applicationalism
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Jim_Garlow.jpg?1401810607" />
<p>One of the giveaways at the recent <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/values-voter-summit">Values Voter Summit</a> was a new book from <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/jim-garlow">Jim Garlow</a>, a California pastor who mobilized churches to organize on behalf of California&rsquo;s anti-marriage-equality Prop 8 in 2008 and says his daily one-minute radio commentaries are heard on 850 stations across the country.</p>
<p>After getting through Garlow&rsquo;s &ldquo;Well Versed: Biblical Answers to Today&rsquo;s Tough Issues,&rdquo; I was surprised that David Barton was not mentioned in the acknowledgments, because the book is a very Bartonesque argument that politicians should look to the Bible for policy guidance on everything from healthcare to the minimum wage to climate change.</p>
<p>&ldquo;There is no major world issue about which the Word does not provide basic and transcendent truths,&rdquo; Garlow writes. He complains that people understand that the Bible applies to their personal lives, but</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">&hellip;when we hear the word <em>political</em>, we shut our Bibles and recoil, as if God has no interest in government, in spite of the fact that it was God who first invented it (Isaiah 9:6). Christians&mdash;particularly pastors&mdash;seem to run from the political. The Evil One delights over this situation. But a Sovereign King refuses to yield any ground to the Evil One. He intends for us to do the same.</p>
<p>Garlow&rsquo;s first chapter asks, &ldquo;Why are we quiet?&rdquo; Perhaps in a nod to Donald Trump, Garlow says the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which bans overt politicking by tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, including churches, &ldquo;effectively silenced and muzzled all pastors.&rdquo; Anyone who follows American politics can be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at the notion that conservative religious leaders have been &ldquo;silenced&rdquo; and &ldquo;muzzled,&rdquo; but it is an article of faith at Religious Right gatherings that America&rsquo;s moral decline is the fault of overly timid preachers. Garlow does not like timid, and neither, he says, does Jesus, whom he describes as a &ldquo;man&rsquo;s man&rdquo; and &ldquo;no wimp.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">We are in a war: a war for truth, righteousness, and justice. The pages that follow are designed to equip you for success in those battles. Welcome to the war.</p>
<p>Garlow says what he&rsquo;s calling for is &ldquo;biblical applicationalism&rdquo; and a return to the idea of a nation founded on biblical truth. He repeatedly says that he is not calling for theocracy, and says he&rsquo;s not a dominionist. But among those whose quotes he uses to open chapters in his book is Christian Reconstructionist <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/gary-demar">Gary DeMar</a>. And one of three people he thanks as members of his &ldquo;spectacular research and writing team&rdquo; is <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/gary-cass">Gary Cass</a>, who Garlow calls &ldquo;a pastor who &lsquo;gets it,&rsquo; who has a staggering grasp of historical theology and its relevance to current culture.&rdquo; Cass is a former director of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ. Two years ago he <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2014/09/08/so-who-is-this-gary-cass-guy/">generated controversy</a> with a Charisma magazine column entitled <a href="http://defendchristians.org/commentary/im-islamaphobic-are-you/">&ldquo;Why We Cannot Coexist,&rdquo;</a> in which he said that Muslims and Christians cannot co-exist and that &ldquo;The only thing that is biblical and that 1400 years of history has shown to work is overwhelming Christian just war and overwhelming self-defense.&rdquo; After the column generated a protest campaign with the hashtag #CancelTheCrusades, Charisma took down Cass&rsquo;s call to &ldquo;crush the vicious seed of Ishmael in Jesus name.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Garlow does not call for a worldwide holy war, but he does complain, &ldquo;Our societal and cultural desire to accept everyone has stopped us from acknowledging the evil clearly written into Islamic tenets.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Garlow, like Donald Trump, disparages political correctness:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Not surprisingly, the promoters and users of PC tactics are those who typically hate biblical truth, traditional morality, sexual restraint, personal responsibility, the nuclear family, or any other concept based on transcendent, unchanging truth revealed by an almighty God for our society&rsquo;s good.</p>
<p>Says Garlow, &ldquo;Unfortunately, Christian religious tolerance has devolved into a secular monstrosity called multiculturalism.&rdquo; Tolerance is a &ldquo;weapon&rdquo; to &ldquo;destroy and discredit our values in the public square,&rdquo; he writes.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Cultural progressives will not be satisfied with silence; they want a complete and unconditional surrender. That is the nature of spiritual warfare; there is no peaceful coexistence.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Religious liberty is under attack from godless, sexual anarchists,&rdquo; he declares. Garlow, of course, is stridently opposed to legal equality for LGBT people. &ldquo;There is no God-given right to do wrong,&rdquo; he writes. &ldquo;Every sinful act is by definition a lawless one.&rdquo; Garlow says it is &ldquo;quite likely&rdquo; that &ldquo;there is no such thing&rdquo; as sexual orientation and he seems to wish gay people would just slink back into the closet. &ldquo;For years that chant was, <em>what we do in our bedroom is our business</em>,&rdquo; he writes. &ldquo;If that is the case, then they should <em>keep</em> their business in their bedrooms.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hate crimes laws are, in his view, &ldquo;inherently unjust&rdquo; and &ldquo;are a form of legally justified revenge against someone whose actions violate some standard of political correctness.&rdquo; And, he says, &ldquo;Hate crimes inevitably lead to hate speech and ultimately thought crimes.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Garlow also devotes plenty of space to arguments about the kinds of authority the Bible grants to government, ideas that are <a href="http://www.politicalresearch.org/2015/04/21/biblical-economics-the-divine-laissez-faire-mandate/">grounded in Christian Reconstructionism</a> and have been embraced by much of the Religious Right. The term social justice &ldquo;has taken a distinctly anti-scriptural meaning,&rdquo; he says, and liberal churches &ldquo;cherry-pick the Bible to advance a humanistic (Marxist) definition of economic justice.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The biggest problem is that it confuses social justice&rsquo;s governmental confiscation of private property with authentic <em>biblical</em> justice, which it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; says Garlow. Some taxation is biblically acceptable, he says, in order to pay for things like national defense. But, he argues, &ldquo;Nowhere in the Bible is the government authorized to take from the rich to give to the poor nor to redistribute wealth.&rdquo; That kind of taxation, he says, is theft:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Any forced redistribution of the fruit of a man&rsquo;s labor violates God&rsquo;s command not to steal. Theft is still theft, even when it&rsquo;s the government picking your pocket. Whether by a gun (a thief) or through a tax (by the IRS), the impact is still the same: you no longer have what you earned.</p>
<p>Food stamps are also unbiblical, he says. Not surprisingly, Garlow cites <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/star-parker">Star Parker</a>, a favorite at Religious Right conferences for her attacks on welfare recipients as lazy freeloaders. Writes Garlow, &ldquo;Show me a person who uses their welfare dollars to buy lottery tickets and play the casino slots, and you will see as much greed as an inner city slumlord.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Because he argues that the Bible gives churches, not government, the responsibility to care for the poor, Garlow&rsquo;s proposal for a &ldquo;biblical tax code&rdquo; includes a 3.33 percent tax that would be given to local houses of worship, replacing government welfare programs that he says are rife with abuse and corruption. He says by letting churches take care of people, his plan would be &ldquo;assuring funds went to the genuinely needy, offering job hunting assistance, and, at the same time, proper prodding of the slothful and lazy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Social Security is also unbiblical, according to Garlow. &ldquo;Biblically, entitlement programs and forced savings/retirement insurance programs like Social Security are never the role of the civil government,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;With the Social Security Act of 1946, the government has stepped outside of its prescribed role and into areas it had no right to enter.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Besides, &ldquo;Where does it say in the Bible that we are supposed to retire at sixty-five, or at any age for that matter?&rdquo; Garlow asks. He complains, &ldquo;After a life of hard work, Americans now feel an entitlement to unproductivity.&rdquo; But sooner or later Social Security will collapse and people will get back to &ldquo;God&rsquo;s design for society&rdquo; by &ldquo;having lots of godly, hardworking children&rdquo; who will take care of their parents in old age.</p>
<p>Garlow also takes on climate change, writing that &ldquo;at its core global warming is a battle between two worldviews in direct opposition: biblical truth and evolutionary untruths.&rdquo; Garlow writes that &ldquo;all the major global datasets reveal the earth hasn&rsquo;t warmed since 1977&rdquo; and &ldquo;NASA scientists are now discovering record levels of ice in the Arctic.&rdquo; Writes Garlow, &ldquo;The reality is this: we&rsquo;re all just fine. God remains in complete control of His creation.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Just to do a little <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/august-2016-global-temperature-record">reality</a> check on his claims, August 2016 was the 16th straight hottest month ever recorded globally. And while Antarctic wintertime ice hit record highs in 2012-2014 before returning to average levels in 2015, &ldquo;both the Arctic wintertime maximum and its summer minimum extent have been in a sharp decline for the past decades,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/antarctic-sea-ice-reaches-new-record-maximum">according to NASA</a>. &ldquo;Studies show that globally, the decreases in Arctic ice far exceed the increases in Antarctic sea ice.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On it goes, through 31 chapters. Our educational system &ldquo;is consumed with anti-Christian bigotry.&rdquo; Government should do away with no-fault divorce. Unions were legitimate at a time of deplorable and dangerous working conditions, but have &ldquo;become as abusive as eighteenth century employers.&rdquo; God wants workers and employers to negotiate without any third-party involvement from government or unions. In a break with the hard right, Garlow does call for immigration reform that offers those who have been in the country illegally a pathway to remaining in the country.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Garlow also takes on the federal judiciary. He calls the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling &ldquo;quite possibly the strongest attack on Christians and Christian values ever written by a sitting Justice in a majority opinion.&rdquo; Justices, he says, are &ldquo;knowingly lying about what the Constitution says and what its words mean and, as such, are in direct violation of Exodus 20:16,&rdquo; which <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/20-16.htm">prohibits</a> &ldquo;false testimony.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Garlow says there&rsquo;s no quick fix to bad court rulings because Congress doesn&rsquo;t have the courage to impeach justices. It will require &ldquo;America to experience a spiritual renewal, or at least an adherence to biblical values such as integrity.&rdquo; But he does call for state officials to nullify and defy federal court rulings on abortion and LGBT equality: &ldquo;We need principled, <em>constitutional</em>, pro-life, and pro-family state legislators and governors to defy the Feds and enforce state laws.&rdquo; And he calls for individual citizens to nullify &ldquo;ungodly&rdquo; and &ldquo;unjust&rdquo; laws, citing the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/manhattan-declaration">Manhattan Declaration</a>&rsquo;s vow of civil disobedience and adding, &ldquo;May we have the discernment and courage to do what is right and obey God rather than man.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryChristian ReconstructionismChurch-StateClimate changeDominionismJim GarlowMarriage EqualityValues Voter SummitFighting the RightReligious Liberty79726Thu, 22 Sep 2016 10:41:23 -0500Marriage EqualityBrian Camenker Takes His Anti-Equality 'War' To Mexicohttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/brian-camenker-takes-his-anti-equality-war-mexico
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Brian%20Camenker.jpg?1457026527" />
<p>We have previously reported that Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage and the World Congress of Families is <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/brian-brown-mobilizing-support-anti-equality-campaign-mexico">lending his support to the growing backlash against marriage equality by religious conservatives in Mexico</a>. Turns out the intensely anti-gay <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/brian-camenker">Brian Camenker</a> of <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/massresistance">MassResistance</a> is also helping out.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://massresistance.com/docs/gen3/16c/Mexico-marriage-rallies/index.html">a September 16 post</a> on its website, MassResistance wrote that over the summer Camenker responded to a plea for help from organizers of Mexico&rsquo;s National Front for the Family. Camenker sent the group digital files of the Spanish-language version of his group&rsquo;s booklet, &ldquo;What same-sex &lsquo;marriage&rsquo; has done to Massachusetts: It&rsquo;s far worse than most people realize&rdquo; and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lKdWPRz2U4">Spanish version</a> of his group&rsquo;s video, <a href="http://www.massresistance.org/docs/marriage/video_2013/index.html">&ldquo;What &lsquo;gay marriage&rsquo; has done to Massachusetts.&rdquo;</a> (Among the &ldquo;shocking&rdquo; things the video mentions are requirements that insurance companies must recognize legal marriages by same-sex couples and lawyers must learn about legal equality.)</p>
<p>The National Front has invited Camenker to Mexico City for <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/more-bleak-times-for-indonesian-lgbts-south-africa-bans-extremist-anti-gay-us-pastor-mexican-marriage-struggle-heats-up-global-lgbt-recap/">what the group hopes will be a massive anti-marriage-equality rally</a> this Saturday, September 24, building on other rallies that have taken place across the country this month.</p>
<p>The post says that the California chapter of MassResistance is planning to hold a rally in solidarity at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles and hopes that other chapters will get on board. The National Organization for Marriage has announced plans for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/294988127534078/">an anti-marriage-equality rally at the Mexican embassy in Washington, D.C.</a> this Friday, September 23. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/citizengo">CitizenGo</a>, a conservative platform for online organizing that has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/brian-browns-citizengo-promoting-anti-lgbt-referendum-slovakia">mobilized</a> on behalf of anti-gay efforts around the globe, is also promoting the D.C. event.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-gay-warm-act-world-congress-families-war">Camenker was a speaker at an anti-gay summit</a> that was held in Salt Lake City last October on the eve of a World Congress of Families summit. Camenker disagreed with people who urged anti-LGBT activists to always speak the truth in love. &ldquo;I think there is a place for being insulting and degrading, and I think I can back that up by scripture,&rdquo; he said. As <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-gay-warm-act-world-congress-families-war">we reported at the time</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Camenker said that in the Old Testament, &ldquo;God has two sets of laws regarding how you treat your fellow man.&rdquo; One is how you treat your neighbor, who you might work with and forgive. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a whole different set of rules for people who want to tear down society, who want to push immorality, who want to tear down the moral structure of society.&rdquo; That set of rules is &ldquo;very brutal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;God says those people who want to do that must be destroyed.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He said the LGBT movement is a &ldquo;house of cards&rdquo; that is &ldquo;held together by force, intimidation, and propaganda&rdquo; and can be destroyed by standing up to it, the way communism was. &ldquo;We are in a war,&rdquo; he repeated, saying of gay-rights advocates, &ldquo;They would send us to concentration camps if they could.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
Peter MontgomeryAnti-GayAnti-LGBTEquality For AllInternationalMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityMassachusettsMassResistance National Organization for MarriageWorld Council of FamiliesFighting the RightBrian BrownBrian Camenker 79631Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:09:24 -0500Marriage EqualitySamuel Rodriguez Says His Freedom To Preach Is At Stake In 2016 Electionhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/samuel-rodriguez-says-his-freedom-preach-stake-2016-election
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/samuel_rodriguez.jpg?1404155814" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">We have written before about </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/my-faith-votes" style="line-height: 20.4px;">My Faith Votes</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">, a supposedly nonpartisan organization chaired by Donald Trump surrogate </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/ben-carson" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Ben Carson</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.myfaithvotes.org/#aboutus" style="line-height: 20.4px;">supported by</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> Religious Right activists including </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/robert-jeffress" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Robert Jeffress</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">, </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/richard-lee" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Richard Lee</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">, </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/alveda-king" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Alveda King</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> and </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/kirk-cameron-0" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Kirk Cameron</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">. &nbsp;The group, which sponsored the meeting this summer between Trump and hundreds of Religious Right leaders, says on its website, &ldquo;My Faith Votes won&rsquo;t tell you who to choose but we can make the process easier.&rdquo; In fact, the group is not at all shy about telling Christians who they should vote for, as a recent </span><a href="https://www.myfaithvotes.org/events/teleforum/?eventid=26802" style="line-height: 20.4px;">interview with conservative Hispanic evangelical Samuel Rodriguez</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> made clear.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/samuel-rodriguez">Rodriguez</a> also has a long track record of posturing as a political independent who is not wedded to, as he puts it, the agenda of the donkey or elephant, but of the lamb, Jesus Christ. Rodriguez, who had been critical of Trump&rsquo;s anti-immigration rhetoric earlier in the election process, now says he has had a &ldquo;wonderful conversation&rdquo; with Trump and has seen a &ldquo;significant pivot&rdquo; from the candidate when it comes to dealing humanely with people who have been in the country illegally for many years.</p>
<p>During the online interview and Q&A session for My Faith Votes, Rodriguez repeated Religious Right alarms about religious liberty, saying that there is a Jezebel spirit in the land, one that intimidates and threatens Christians based on fear and hatred of Christianity and the &ldquo;biblical worldview.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Rodriguez fielded a couple of questions from people who are not happy with either of the presidential candidates and were not feeling motivated to vote. He was not having it, telling one person, &ldquo;In my personal opinion, the number one deliverable from the next president will be the Supreme Court.&rdquo; Citing the potential for the next president to nominate three or four justices, he said, &ldquo;Who I vote for has to be connected to which nominee&hellip;has committed to nominating justices on the court that will protect life and religious liberty and respect the image of God in every American. That&rsquo;s what compels me to vote in 2016.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In response to another discouraged voter, he argued that his very freedom to preach the gospel is at risk:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">We have to rise up and look beyond the candidates. We have to look at the issues that are at play here. What&rsquo;s at risk, truly? Will anything impact me? If I do not vote, will I personally suffer any consequences? Well, if you&rsquo;re a Christian, if you&rsquo;re a Bible-believing Christ follower, the answer is yes. There are legislative initiatives right now, that serve, that actually carry the great potential of limiting our expression of our Christian faith.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">What if I tell you there are initiatives out there that would attempt to silence us from preaching about what the Bible may deem as sinful, and that speech may be deemed as hate speech, because it runs counter to a cultural narrative out there, a cultural thread or a cultural dynamic? Not only that; recently, as I alluded to in the beginning of this broadcast, in California there was an attempt to punish Christian colleges and universities for believing the Bible and preaching the Bible. It&rsquo;s this sort of thing taking place, not only in California but across the nation.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">So staying home may very well jeopardize my ability as a pastor to reach people with the loving gospel of Jesus Christ. Without a doubt, staying at home carries the potential of enlarging and increasing the number of abortions that take place in this country. How about this: and around the world, because there are candidates that are committed to funding abortions around the world. My taxpayer money going out and helping someone else terminate a life. So if you care about the sanctity of life, and if you care about religious liberty, then you should care about voting this election.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">And again, if you can&rsquo;t vote for a candidate, vote for the platform, vote for the party platforms, and the party platform that best will protect your right to be a Christian and reach others with the loving, grace-filled message of Jesus Christ.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>And in response to a questioner complaining that church leaders are not willing to talk to people about how to vote, he said:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Elections have consequences. Because 25 million Christians did not vote in 2012, the institution of marriage suffered a radical transformation via the conduit of judicial and executive fiat. Elections have consequences. Because 25 million Christians did not vote in 2012, we have more and more children that were aborted, and we had an agency in America that sold aborted baby parts, and they were protected&hellip;This time, the stake is even higher and greater. The consequences are more egregious and more serious. So I would tell them, if you care about the future of America, if you care about the future of Christianity in America, you must vote. And you must vote righteousness and justice. And you must vote life and religious liberty. You must vote.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter Montgomery2016 CandidatesAnti-AbortionAnti-GayAnti-LGBTElection 2016Marriage EqualityNational Hispanic Christian Leadership ConferenceReligious LibertySamuel RodriguezFighting the RightReligious Liberty79581Mon, 19 Sep 2016 16:22:25 -0500Marriage EqualityBrian Brown Mobilizing Support For Anti-Equality Campaign in Mexicohttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/brian-brown-mobilizing-support-anti-equality-campaign-mexico
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/brian_brown_a.jpg?1381348430" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">Marriage equality has been </span><a href="http://wockner.blogspot.com/2016/06/mexicos-wild-ride-to-marriage-equality.html" style="line-height: 20.4px;">spreading across Mexico</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> as activists have engaged in a long-term strategy challenging discrimination in the federal courts and state legislatures. But after President Enrique Pe&ntilde;a Nieto announced this summer that he would like to put marriage equality into the country&rsquo;s constitution, conservative religious leaders have been </span><a href="http://religiondispatches.org/lgbt-activists-challenge-church-anti-marriage-efforts-govt-in-belize-creates-church-state-public-morality-commission-opponents-seek-to-stop-finlands-marriage-equality-law-before-it-takes-eff/" style="line-height: 20.4px;">mobilizing a backlash</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">. Now, U.S. anti-gay activist </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/brian-brown" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Brian Brown</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> of the </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/national-organization-for-marriage" style="line-height: 20.4px;">National Organization for Marriage</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">, who </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/noms-brian-brown-lead-global-anti-lgbt-efforts-world-congress-families" style="line-height: 20.4px;">became president</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> of the anti-LGBT </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/world-congress-of-families" style="line-height: 20.4px;">World Congress of Families</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> earlier this year, is headed to Mexico to show his support.</span></p>
<p>Anti-equality activists at the National Front for the Family <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/lgbt-activists-challenge-church-anti-marriage-efforts-govt-in-belize-creates-church-state-public-morality-commission-opponents-seek-to-stop-finlands-marriage-equality-law-before-it-takes-eff/">organized marches in multiple cities</a> last weekend that were supported by Catholic Church officials. They&rsquo;re following up with a national anti-equality march scheduled for September 24. Religious conservatives would like <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/mexicos-religious-conservatives-seek-anti-lgbt-constitutional-amendment-lgbt-activists-defend-secular-government-cash-from-qatar-funds-traditional-family-activism-worldwide-global-lgbt-recap/">to amend the constitution</a> to ban abortion and sex ed as well as marriage by same-sex couples.</p>
<p>In a Wednesday email from the World Congress of Families, Brown writes:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">WCF is <a href="http://worldcongress.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=71b5ff0a93830214b96a42bf6&id=1d9f4bc2d3&e=0644ffecb7" target="_blank">launching a petition drive</a> to give you and citizens across the globe the opportunity to add your own voice to the National March for the Family in Mexico City. Even though most people can't be there in person, you can lend your name and voice to the effort to uphold marriage, protect children from "gender ideology" and support the right of parents to direct their children's education according to their own values and principles.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">I will personally deliver this petition to the leaders of National Front for the Family, including my friend, Rodrigo Ivan Cortes, when I meet with them in Mexico City.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">The National March for the Family has the potential of being the largest single demonstration of support for marriage, children and parental rights in history. Beyond its significance in the domestic affairs of Mexico, this march also can help advance the worldwide movement to support marriage, religious liberty and the truth of gender that we were made male and female.</p>
<p>Both Brown and the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/globalizing-homophobia-part-4-world-congress-families-and-russias-christian-saviors">World Congress of Families</a> have <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/globalizing-homophobia-part-2-today-whole-world-looking-russia">a long track record</a> of <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/globalizing-homophobia">promoting anti-gay policies around the world</a>.</p>
Peter MontgomeryAnti-GayAnti-LGBTEquality For AllInternationalMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityNational Organization for MarriageWorld Congress of Families Fighting the RightBrian Brown79361Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:01:20 -0500Marriage EqualityKevin Swanson: 'It's Amazing That God Has Not Judged America' For Gay Rights & Legal Abortionhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-its-amazing-god-has-not-judged-america-gay-rights-legal-abortion
<p>Kevin Swanson, the Colorado pastor and homeschooling activist who last year hosted three GOP presidential candidates <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-confab-ends-call-execute-gays-who-dont-repent-send-queen-elsa-back-hell">at a conference in Iowa</a>, hosted an <a href="http://noahconference.org/">event</a> near Cincinnati over the weekend to help families prepare their children to avoid cultural pitfalls and be prepared to enter the metaphorical Noah&rsquo;s ark of Christianity. Among the <a href="http://noahconference.org/">speakers</a> were Ken Ham, the Creationist activist who just completed a life-sized replica of Noah&rsquo;s ark near the site of the conference, and GOP favorites David, Jason and Flip Benham.</p>
<p>Swanson started things off by impressing upon attendees the need to prepare their children to fend off and avoid God&rsquo;s wrath by declaring that it&rsquo;s &ldquo;amazing that God has not judged America&rdquo; already for gay rights and legal abortion.</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/noKwAwPAgkE" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing that God has not judged America in 1973,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;hard to believe that God didn&rsquo;t judge America in 2001 [sic] with the Lawrence v. Texas decision, it&rsquo;s hard to believe that God didn&rsquo;t judge America with Obergefell.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is amazing that God has not brought judgment upon this world shortly after [the Obergefell decision] happened in July [sic ]of 2015 or in August of 2015 or even in September of 2015 or maybe even October,&rdquo; he added.</p>
<p>&ldquo;So be assured, my friends,&rdquo; Swanson said, &ldquo;judgment is coming. I have no idea when it will come. Will it be 120 years from 1900? Will it be 120 years from 1890? Will it be 120 years from 1973, Roe v. Wade, the decision to eliminate hundreds of millions of babies in America and of course all around the world, same thing has happened since the 1960s? Will it be 120 years from 2015, the day on which the most powerful court in the world ruled against God&rsquo;s institution of marriage in one of the most radical, arrogant insults against Almighty God? When will God&rsquo;s judgment come? I have no idea, but I will tell you, it will come.&rdquo;</p>
<p>(It took Noah 120 years to build his ark before the Flood came, thus the 120-year delay in judgment that Swanson is suggesting.)</p>
Miranda BlueAnti-ChoiceAnti-GayC4End TimesJason BenhamKen HamKevin SwansonMarriage EqualityReproductive HealthSupreme CourtDavid BenhamFlip Benham Fighting the Right78381Tue, 23 Aug 2016 15:50:20 -0500Marriage EqualityMat Staver: Only The 'Brainwashed' Think Obergefell Is The Law Of The Landhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mat-staver-only-brainwashed-think-obergefell-law-land
<p>Speaking to a Pennsylvania anti-abortion group <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSfdC2Lrcd4">in April</a>, Liberty Counsel&rsquo;s Mat Staver compared marriage equality foes to anti-Nazi dissidents, Martin Luther King Jr. and various biblical figures, declaring that it was time to decide whether to &ldquo;obey God&rdquo; or &ldquo;obey man&rdquo; on the issue. Those who think that the Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision striking down marriage equality bans is &ldquo;the law of the land,&rdquo; he said, have been &ldquo;brainwashed.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V9_uvsDYFhc" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>&ldquo;We are coming to a place, ladies and gentlemen, where we have to make a decision,&rdquo; said Staver, who <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ten-horrific-things-kim-davis-attorney-has-said-about-gay-people">represented</a> Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in her war against the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage quality ruling. &ldquo;Where we have to make a decision like Dietrich Bonhoeffer made a decision, like Martin Niemoller made a decision. We are coming to the position where we are in the same place that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had to make a decision, where the founders of this country had to make a decision that we will either obey God or we will obey man. And when those two directly, inherently, irrevocably collide with one another. We are in a position like Daniel in the lions&rsquo; den, like the three Hebrews that would not bow down, like Esther, who put her life on the line and engaged in civil resistance against the most powerful king on the planet. We are coming to that moment in time.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Supreme Court&rsquo;s ruling in Obergefell, he said, was &ldquo;a lawless opinion.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;When are we going to stop playing charades and pretend that whatever those five people say, whoever they might be, whatever they say, no matter how devoid of the Constitution it may be, that it becomes the law of the land?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t! If that&rsquo;s your belief system, if you have gotten so brainwashed to think that whatever those five people in Washington, D.C., say, we now have to march to it like toy soldiers because if they say so, irrespective of the fact that they have no authority under the Constitution to do it, then you would support Dred Scott, you would support Buck v. Bell, because those decisions came down from the United States Supreme Court as well.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the case of Dred Scott, he reminded the audience, &ldquo;we had to fight a civil war to overturn that nonsense.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the same speech, Staver <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mat-staver-legal-abortion-means-we-are-doing-same-thing-isis">warned</a> that God would judge America because legal abortion means &ldquo;we are doing the same thing&rdquo; as ISIS.</p>
Miranda BlueC4Kim DavisLiberty Counsel Marriage EqualityMat Staver Fighting the Right78301Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:40:55 -0500Marriage EqualityA New Regnerus? Anti-Equality Groups Promote New Study on Sexual Orientation and Genderhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/new-regnerus-anti-equality-groups-promote-new-study-sexual-orientation-and-gender
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/ryan_anderson.jpg?1435866897" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">Anti-equality organizations are enthusiastically promoting </span><a href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/number-50-fall-2016" style="line-height: 20.4px;">a new study on sexual orientation and gender</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">, hoping it will be new culture war ammunition.</span></p>
<p>The study by Dr. Lawrence Mayer and Dr. Paul McHugh appears in &ldquo;The New Atlantis,&rdquo; a journal co-published by the right-wing Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Center for the Study of Technology and Science, which shares an address with EPPC. The New Atlantis is <a href="https://twitter.com/tnajournal/status/510086462931750912">not a peer-reviewed journal</a>, and has <a href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/rethinking-peer-review">critiqued peer review</a>, widely considered the gold standard in scientific publishing.</p>
<p>Among the authors&rsquo; contentions are that the belief that sexual orientation and gender identity are innate or fixed properties is &ldquo;not supported by scientific evidence.&rdquo; The study also says that the stress of social stigma is not a sufficient explanation for higher rates of mental health and substance abuse problems in LGBT communities.</p>
<p>In his preface, co-author Mayer dedicates his work to the LGBT community, &ldquo;which bears a disproportionate rate of mental health problems compared the population as a whole,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;scholars doing impartial research on topics of public controversy.&rdquo; He declares himself a supporter of equality and opponent of anti-LGBT discrimination.</p>
<p>Mayer says that McHugh initially approached him to review a monograph he had written and the project expanded from there. The prominent but <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/meet-the-doctor-social-conservatives-depend-on-to-justify-anti-transgender-hate-fe764009b93#.vprpais0w">controversial</a> McHugh is a Catholic in his mid-80s who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/05/us/psychiatrist-says-he-was-surprised-by-furor-over-his-role-on-abuse-panel.html?pagewanted=all">has described himself</a> as &ldquo;religiously orthodox, politically liberal, and culturally conservative &ndash; a believer in marriage and the Marines, a supporter of institutions and family values.&rdquo; The new study <a href="http://transadvocate.com/clinging-to-a-dangerous-past-dr-paul-mchughs-selective-reading-of-transgender-medical-literature_n_13842.htm">builds on a body of work</a> that dismisses the notion of transgender identity. TransAdvocate and <a href="https://catholictrans.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/a-critique-of-paul-mchughs-surgical-sex/">others</a> challenged McHugh&rsquo;s <a href="http://transadvocate.com/clinging-to-a-dangerous-past-dr-paul-mchughs-selective-reading-of-transgender-medical-literature_n_13842.htm">&ldquo;selective reading of transgender medical literature&rdquo;</a> two years ago, and <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/meet-the-doctor-social-conservatives-depend-on-to-justify-anti-transgender-hate-fe764009b93#.vprpais0w">ThinkProgress critiqued his work in 2015</a>.</p>
<p>Brian Brown at the National Organization for Marriage <a href="http://ht.ly/rxh7303td7f">can hardly contain his excitement</a> about the new study, writing in a letter to supporters, &ldquo;The importance of this new study <u>cannot be overstated</u>.&rdquo; He urges people to &ldquo;help spread the word&rdquo; to &ldquo;make sure that this groundbreaking research gains the wide hearing it deserves despite what will surely be a concerted effort by the media to bury its findings.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://dailysignal.com/2016/08/22/almost-everything-the-media-tells-you-about-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-is-wrong/">Also participating in the roll-out</a> is the Heritage Foundation&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/ryan-anderson">Ryan Anderson</a>, one of the most prominent opponents of marriage equality. Anderson says the study&rsquo;s findings undermine the Obama administration&rsquo;s requirement that schools accommodate transgender children as well as the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling.</p>
<p>Anderson has written a book and spoken widely about how the anti-equality movement should reject and resist the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling. &nbsp;Anderson has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-montgomery/right-sees-2016-as-chance_b_7906834.html">urged the anti-equality movement to conduct new research</a> (citing <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/new-research-further-debunks-regnerus-study-gay-parenting" target="_hplink">&nbsp;the widely discredited Mark Regnerus study</a>&nbsp;on &ldquo;family structures&rdquo;) to create &ldquo;new insights&rdquo; that future Supreme Court justices could use as justification for overturning Obergefell.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryAnti-GayAnti-LGBTCenter for the Study of Technology and ScienceEquality For AllHeritage FoundationLawrence MayerMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityNational Organization for MarriagePaul McHughRyan AndersonEthics and Public Policy Center Fighting the RightBrian Brown78291Mon, 22 Aug 2016 13:49:49 -0500Marriage EqualityHappy Birthday, Phyllis Schlafly!http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/happy-birthday-phyllis-schlafly
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Schlafly%20button%20cropped_0.jpg?1471280886" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">Today is the 92nd birthday of </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/phyllis-schlafly?page=1" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Phyllis Schlafly</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">, the godmother of the right-wing movement in America. Schlafly broke onto the national scene with &ldquo;A Choice Not an Echo,&rdquo; her 1964 book making the case for Barry Goldwater, and she solidified her leadership with her successful campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment. Decades later, she helped rally right-wing opposition to President Obama, hosting a </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/conference-recap-far-right-leaders-vow-take-back-america-evil-obama-and-democrats" style="line-height: 20.4px;">&ldquo;How To Take Back America&rdquo; conference</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> during his first year in office. She&rsquo;s still hard at work, leading Eagle Forum and publishing her Phyllis Schlafly Report newsletter, whose June issue argued for putting Trump&rsquo;s wall&mdash;&ldquo;and yes, Mexico will pay&rdquo;&mdash;in this year&rsquo;s Republican platform. </span><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/287405-gop-adds-trumps-border-wall-to-platform" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Mission accomplished</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">.</span></p>
<p>It hasn&rsquo;t been the happiest year for Schlafly, who has been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/maddow-donald-trump-blowing-conservative-movement">embroiled</a> in a power struggle with a group of Eagle Forum board members, including her own daughter. She also <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/phyllis-schlafly-loses-trademark-dispute-with-nephew-s-craft-brewery/article_467c3b6f-0572-5b31-ad4b-b63abf6857cf.html">lost a trademark lawsuit</a> against her nephew, who makes Schlafly beer.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Schlafly was an <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/phyllis-schlafly-trump-has-spoken-heart-america">early and ardent backer of Donald Trump</a>, standing up for him in the primaries against many of her Religious Right allies and Eagle Forum colleagues. At this year&rsquo;s Republican National Convention, Schlafly hosted a &ldquo;Life of the Party&rdquo; event celebrating that the GOP has been officially anti-abortion since 1976; she told attendees that <a href="http://prospect.org/article/trump-conservatism%E2%80%99s-old-guard-sees-new-goldwater">she endorsed Trump after he pledged loyalty to a pro-life platform.</a> Party attendees were given copies of the most recent of her more than two dozen books, &ldquo;How the Republican Party Became Pro-Life.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a short paperback that feels as if it was thrown together after having Schlafly tell war stories about her GOP platform battles over the years.</p>
<p>Schlafly spends most of the book recounting stories of pro-life activists&rsquo; efforts to strengthen and protect anti-abortion language at every Republican convention since 1976. It includes the successful resistance led by Schlafly, Ralph Reed, Bay Buchanan and Gary Bauer to Bob Dole&rsquo;s efforts to soften the anti-abortion language in 1996. (I was in San Diego with a People For the American Way team covering that convention; Reed was gleeful about demonstrating his power to humiliate Dole, which may well have contributed to his November defeat.)</p>
<p>After the quick march through convention history, Schlafly moves into a denunciation of &ldquo;judicial supremacy,&rdquo; calling on Republicans to repudiate the Supreme Court&rsquo;s Roe v. Wade decision. She also calls for nullification of 2015&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When supremacist judges presume to rewrite portions of our law, most especially if it is a law that we have had for millennia such as our law defining marriage, it&rsquo;s time for the American people to speak up and say &ldquo;No&rdquo; just as Abe Lincoln did when supremacist judges ruled that blacks could be considered another man&rsquo;s &ldquo;property.&rdquo; &hellip; All Americans must use every tool in the political process to reject judicial supremacy and return to government by &ldquo;we the people.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The book includes a short afterword by Kristan Hawkins, presidents of Students for Life, who calls Schlafly &ldquo;a great American hero&rdquo; and celebrates that, thanks to Schlafly and &ldquo;her army,&rdquo; there is today &ldquo;no national Republican candidate who dares be anything other than pro-life!&rdquo; The final 70 pages of the book, more than half its total length, is devoted to an appendix of anti-abortion and anti-marriage-equality references in Republican platforms and resolutions and excerpts from the 2012 platform.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Schlafly urged Republican senators to hold firm in refusing to consider a Supreme Court nominee &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/phyllis-schlafly-no-scotus-nominee-until-we-have-republican-who-will-appoint-somebody-nature">until we have a Republican who will appoint somebody of the nature of Scalia</a>,&rdquo; telling her interviewer that the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency made her &ldquo;scared to death.&rdquo; Republican senators have done as she asked, and Schlafly got her wish in Cleveland with a solidly right-wing platform and the nomination of Donald Trump. But given what current polls suggest that November will bring, she may want to do her celebrating now.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryJudicial IndependenceKristan HawkinsMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityPhyllis SchlaflyRepublican PartyRNC 2016Students for Life Supreme CourtEagle Forum Fair and Just CourtsFighting the Right77931Mon, 15 Aug 2016 12:11:48 -0500Marriage EqualityNOM To Its Supporters: You're Pathetichttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/nom-its-supporters-youre-pathetic
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/brian_brown_a.jpg?1381348430" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">The </span><a href="https://email.vervemail.com/hostedemail/email.htm?CID=27549289917&ch=FC272C9E095A458DCBDE411D75CEA60D&h=2afd117e7023cb3dce84d697be1b6929&ei=JdvkQF1Nq&schema=echo7" style="line-height: 20.4px;">latest fundraising email</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> from the National Organization for Marriage is not a happy one; it starts with a graphic of the U.S. Capitol and the text, &ldquo;This is pathetic.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"><img alt="" src="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/sites/default/files/NOM Pathetic.jpg" style="width: 400px; height: 179px;" /></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;The chastising letter from NOM President Brian Brown complains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">NOM began our critical&nbsp;</span><a href="http://email.vervemail.com/ct/48540310:JdvkQF1Nq:m:N:469441323:FC272C9E095A458DCBDE411D75CEA60D" style="line-height: 20.4px;" target="_blank"><strong>Summer Membership Drive</strong></a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">&nbsp;on July 22nd. We're now three weeks into our drive &mdash; the halfway point &mdash; and we have only received 256 contributions from our members. We're only 17% toward our goal of receiving 1,500 membership contributions of at least $35.</span></p>
<p>That is pathetic.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Brown goes on to complain that with only a 17 percent participation rate, NOM can&rsquo;t convince courts to uphold anti-gay &ldquo;religious liberty&rdquo; laws, fight President Obama&rsquo;s &ldquo;dangerous gender &lsquo;identity&rsquo; agenda,&rdquo; or &ldquo;lobby the next President and the US Senate to only appoint and confirm Supreme Court justices who will reverse the illegitimate and anti-constitutional ruling redefining marriage.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Brown, who recently <a href="https://email.vervemail.com/hostedemail/email.htm?CID=27428684443&ch=A5AFCB8646809AC673E486779AD430C5&h=99426575f928b57cfffe1094543d2d4c&ei=Jm8T-t1N5&schema=echo7">gloated</a> about NOM&rsquo;s role in defeating a Missouri Republican state legislator who had voted against a constitutional amendment protecting anti-LGBT discrimination, fumed that unless his supporters start forking over cash, &ldquo;It means that gutless, turncoat legislators who have betrayed marriage with their votes may get away with their treachery.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Brown just doesn&rsquo;t understand&mdash;he can&rsquo;t imagine!<span style="line-height: 20.4px;">&mdash;</span>why people would be unenthusiastic about continuing to support NOM's anti-gay activism:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">I really don't believe &mdash; I just can't imagine the thought &mdash; that NOM's members have quit fighting for the institution of marriage as a union between man and woman. And yet, only 256 of you have responded with an urgently needed membership contribution during this critical period.</span></p>
<p><strong>I'm going to be blunt: we need 1,500 people to step up with a membership contribution of at least $35</strong>&nbsp;in order to raise the $52,500 we're short so far this year. Without that type of response, we'll have no choice but to lay people off, cut programs and stop pursuing some of our most important work.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Regardless of what kind of response NOM&rsquo;s shaming email brings in, Brown will have plenty of anti-equality work to keep him busy, as <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/noms-brian-brown-lead-global-anti-lgbt-efforts-world-congress-families">he recently became president</a> of the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/world-congress-of-families">World Congress of Families</a>, a network of organizations dedicated to resisting LGBT equality and preserving anti-gay discrimination around the world.&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryAnti-GayAnti-LGBTMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityNational Organization for MarriageReligious LibertySupreme CourtWorld Congress of Families Fighting the RightReligious LibertyBrian Brown77796Thu, 11 Aug 2016 13:42:46 -0500Marriage EqualityAnti-LGBT, Christian-Nation Extremists Rally For Roy Moore In Alabamahttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-lgbt-christian-nation-extremists-rally-roy-moore-alabama
<p>Fresh from a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/summer-justice">week of anti-abortion protests</a> in Wichita, Kansas, where they held an &ldquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/operation-save-america-declares-scotus-rulings-abortion-gay-rights-null-and-void">ecclesiastical court</a>&rdquo; holding the Supreme Court in violation of the law of God, activists affiliated with Operation Save America have descended on Montgomery, Alabama, to rally in support of Chief Justice Roy Moore as he faces ethics charges over his defiance of the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling.</p>
<p>As Moore and his attorney, Liberty Counsel&rsquo;s Mat Staver, <a href="http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/08/roy_moore_seeks_dismissal_of_e.html">faced a hearing</a> in front of the Alabama Court of the Judiciary yesterday, Operation Save America leaders and other activists rallied outside the court to support Moore against judges who &ldquo;hate God.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Cal Zastrow, the anti-abortion activist who said in Wichita that he was coordinating grassroots support for Moore, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cal.zastrow/posts/10153864838601818">posted on Facebook</a> that Moore shared supper with some of the protesters and told them about &ldquo;the big challenges he is experiencing from Sodomites and lawless courts.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Alabama Court of the Judiciary has some very wicked members who aren't interested in upholding the rule of law. They hate God (but still go to churches) and will be trying to remove Chief Justice Roy Moore at a trial on Sept. 28 for his beliefs,&rdquo; Zastrow wrote.</p>
<p>After the hearing, Moore, with Staver at his side, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_FX74obhOM">spoke</a> to the press with the activists lined up behind him, including one holding a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153864834191818&set=pcb.10153864838601818&type=3&theater">sign</a> declaring &ldquo;Sodomy Ruins Nations.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R_FX74obhOM" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>One protester<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCMCAy9N6yw"> told AL.com</a> that she was supporting Moore because he&rsquo;s &ldquo;the only leader in the country who is standing up for the rule of law and what&rsquo;s right.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Reacting to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ambrosia-starling-roy-moore_us_573c777ae4b0ef86171cc5bd">Ambrosia Starling</a>, a drag queen who&rsquo;s become a leader in anti-Moore efforts, the protester said: &ldquo;We are women, we bear children and raise them in godly homes. That is not a woman. That&rsquo;s a pervert. That&rsquo;s a man in a dress acting like a woman. He&rsquo;s not a woman and the law should afford him no protection. The opposite of that is true. They should protect godly homes, men and women, marriage between a man and a woman as the only ordained marriage. And it&rsquo;s the only one that ever will be right. It&rsquo;s not loving to allow him to continue in his perversion. What&rsquo;s loving is to correct him, rebuke him and show him that perversion is not a healthy life, away from God is not a healthy choice.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oCMCAy9N6yw" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Also <a href="http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/videos/news/local/alabama/2016/08/08/88430104/">speaking at the rally</a> was Rusty Thomas, the head of Operation Save America, who in an <a href="http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Chief-Justice-Roy-Moore-in-the-Lion-s-Den.html?soid=1102126637540&aid=LMZIIqKrVeY">email</a> to his supporters on Sunday praised Moore for defying the &ldquo;Federal beast&rdquo; and comparing the chief justice to the biblical Daniel, who, instead of being tossed into a lion's den, is fighting a &ldquo;beastly&rdquo; homosexuality that "seeks to devour any God honoring truth or person who upholds it in the public square."</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;As individuals, I pray these confused folks who have been captured by this demonic lust find freedom through the love and truth of Jesus Christ,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;Their agenda to remake America in their perverted image, however, let that agenda fall into the pit that they have created&rdquo;:</p>
<p>Chief Justice Roy Moore is a godly statesmen that is doing his duty as a Lesser Magistrate. His example is so desperately needed today. We pray that other Judges, Governors, Legislators, and Sheriffs will be inspired to follow his example to reapply the Constitutional chain back on the Federal beast, restore law and order, and establish the necessary checks and balances our nation needs to preserve our liberty that is rooted righteousness and justice.</p>
<p>In about 2 hours, we will be taking our message to a busy intersection with signs and literature, then we will pray at the Supreme Court building where the "trial" will be held tomorrow.</p>
<p>Tomorrow morning, we will have a rally at noon to support Chief Justice Roy Moore and then hopefully make it in for the actual hearing. Please saturate what is happening here in Montgomery in much prayer. <strong>His is the last man standing against the immorality, injustice, and tyranny that is stalking America.</strong> God grants us the victory and may Roy Moore serve as a modern day Daniel.</p>
<p>As you recall, Daniel's enemies were jealous of his excellent spirit, wise behavior, and strong work ethic. They devised a plan to remove him from office and bring about his demise. They stated, "We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God" (Daniel 6:5).</p>
<p>Initially, it appeared their devious plan worked. Daniel was thrown in the lion's den where his enemies hoped for him to be devoured. <strong> And make no mistake about the vile nature of homosexuality, it is beastly. It seeks to devour any God honoring truth or person who upholds it in the public square. </strong> To their everlasting shame and demise, however, the pit they dug for Daniel, (Chief Justice Roy Moore) they fell into the same pit. The same rock they attempted to roll over Daniel (Chief Justice Roy Moore) is the same rock that rolled back on them. Daniel was removed from the lion's den and his enemies took his place and this time the lion's munched.</p>
<p><strong>As individuals, I pray these confused folks who have been captured by this demonic lust find freedom through the love and truth of Jesus Christ. Their agenda to remake America in their perverted image, however, let that agenda fall into the pit that they have created. </strong> May the perverted agenda that seeks to make the good guys the bad guys wind up on the ash heap of history, along with every other tyrannical, blood lust of men who dared to defy and deny the authority of Almighty God in Jesus' mighty name!</p>
</blockquote>
Miranda BlueAlabamaAnti-GayC4Liberty Counsel Marriage EqualityMat Staver Operation Save America Roy Moore Rusty ThomasFighting the RightCal Zastrow77646Tue, 09 Aug 2016 11:08:07 -0500Marriage EqualityRight-Wing Pastor: Satan Is Staging A 'Homosexual Invasion' From The White Househttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-pastor-satan-staging-homosexual-invasion-white-house
<p>In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmMT13xKYfE">sermon</a> on &ldquo;the deception of the homosexual agenda&rdquo; at last month&rsquo;s &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/summer-justice">Summer of Justice</a>&rdquo; event in Wichita, Kansas, Bishop Otis Kenner of Louisiana declared that Satan is staging a &ldquo;homosexual invasion&rdquo; to stop God from taking dominion over the earth and that the &ldquo;devil&rdquo; in the White House is in on it.</p>
<p>Kenner, who also addressed the crowd on <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-abortion-event-satan-used-susan-b-anthony-put-women-workforce"> the evils of suffragist Susan B. Anthony and women in the workplace</a>, declared that Satan has &ldquo;devised a system&rdquo; using gay people to stop God&rsquo;s &ldquo;colonization of the earth realm&rdquo; through procreation.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Because the homosexuals know that they cannot procreate, so they take our innocent sons and daughters through adoption &hellip; to try to stop the colonization of God in the earth realm,&rdquo; he said. He then spoke as Satan: &ldquo;&lsquo;If I can get into their minds, if I can get into their spirit, then I can break the process of God, stop the procreation process of God and the colonization of the earth realm and make more just like them.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s about them colonizing the earth with their own kind.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;In 2008, I preached a sermon called &lsquo;Homosexual Invasion,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;God has showed me this in 2008 how the homosexuals were going to invade our country because they want to stop the colonization of God in the earth realm.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/guEG5QP7Kc0" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Kenner later addressed the lighting of the White House in rainbow colors on the evening of the Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state-level bans on marriage equality.</p>
<p>Noting that the decision was handed down on June 26 of last year, he pointed out that the date included &ldquo;two sixes, which means 666, the Mark of the Beast.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;They legitimize same-sex marriages and they light the White House up with the gay pride colors to signify Satan is sitting at the seat of power,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Will you vote for the devil because he showed up black?&rdquo; Kenner said he had asked his congregation, clarifying that he wasn&rsquo;t calling President Obama the devil, just that &ldquo;what he did was the devil.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This, he said, was all reason for Christians to &ldquo;interpose&rdquo; against LGBT rights laws and declare that &ldquo;we will not allow a transgender bathroom in our schools.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uUDFjlitLsU" width="560"></iframe></p>
Miranda BlueAnti-GayMarriage EqualityOperation Save America Otis KennerSummer of JusticeC3Fighting the Right77621Mon, 08 Aug 2016 15:56:59 -0500Marriage EqualitySteve Crampton: US Risks Becoming 'Slave Nation' Because Of Marriage Equality Ruling, 'Religious Freedom' Attackshttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/steve-crampton-us-risks-becoming-slave-nation-because-marriage-equality-ruling-religious-fre
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Steve_Crampton.jpg?1396888365" />
<p>Steve Crampton, a Religious Right activist who is <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-gay-religious-right-activist-seeks-seat-mississippi-supreme-court"> running for a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court </a> , said last month that the U.S. is at risk of becoming a &ldquo;slave nation&rdquo; if attacks on &ldquo;religious freedom&rdquo; and the &ldquo;rule of law&rdquo; continue. He in particular praised the Alabama Supreme Court&rsquo;s resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down gay marriage bans.</p>
<p>Crampton <a href="http://www.fromthemedian.org/MP3_Archive/06-16-16.lite.mp3">told Cleveland Right to Life&rsquo;s Molly Smith</a> that the federal government is &ldquo;running roughshod over states and their rights&rdquo; and that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s essential, if we&rsquo;re going to preserve our liberties as our founders intended, that states reassert themselves.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;One of the seminal issues, I believe, in our day, in our state of Mississippi as elsewhere, is how far does the federal government go constitutionally in basically ordering the states around,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I think the big example that we have, maybe the most glaring one nationally right now, is what&rsquo;s going on in Alabama, where the state Supreme Court has issued very fine opinions and very studied analyses of the issue of same-sex marriage and whether the Supreme Court&rsquo;s ruling in the Obergefell opinion is actually binding on a state that was not a party to that lawsuit and that had, as Mississippi has, its own state marriage amendment that unequivocally protects marriage as between one man and one woman.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;So, long and short of it is,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;all of our freedoms, I think, today are grave risk, in particular religious freedom. I believe it is under attack as never before in our nation&rsquo;s history. And because religious freedom is the first freedom, it&rsquo;s foundational, if it goes, everything goes. So it&rsquo;s a time when either we stand up or we shut up and become almost a slave nation. Because the rule of law is at grave risk.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/275656458&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe></p>
Miranda BlueC4Election 2016Marriage EqualityMississippiSteve CramptonSupreme CourtFighting the Right77141Wed, 27 Jul 2016 14:58:24 -0500Marriage EqualityRevealed: The Right-Wing Movement’s Agenda For Trump’s First 180 Dayshttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/revealed-right-wing-movement-s-agenda-trump-s-first-180-days
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Conservative%20Action%20Project%20Pocket%20Cards.jpg?1469544995" />
<p>The <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/conservative-action-project?page=1">Conservative Action Project</a> is a network of more than 100 right-wing leaders created in 2008 as &ldquo;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/31/AR2010013102860_pf.html">an offshoot&rdquo;</a> of the secretive far-right <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/council-for-national-policy">Council for National Policy</a>, making it part of an <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/how-many-coalitions-does-religious-right-need">array of conservative coalitions</a> that <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/when-going-gets-tough-right-starts-new-group">bloomed around and after the election of Barack Obama</a>. Originally chaired by Edwin Meese, the Conservative Action Project is now headed by <a href="http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/d/becky-dunlop">Becky Norton Dunlop</a>, Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow at the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/heritage-foundation">Heritage Foundation</a>. It includes leaders of all of what are often described as the three legs of the conservative movement: social, economic, and national security conservatives.</p>
<p>The Washington Post reported in 2010 that the Conservative Action Project was <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/31/AR2010013102860_pf.html">helping fuel closer coordination</a> across the multifaceted conservative coalition with its weekly Wednesday morning meetings at the Family Research Council. The group also promotes shared messaging and strategy with its <a href="http://conservativeactionproject.com/memos/">&ldquo;Memos for the Movement.&rdquo;</a> Now this collection of right-wing leaders has identified its policy priorities for the first 180 days of a new administration.</p>
<p>At a forum organized by the American Conservative Union Foundation at the Republican National Convention, participants were given of a set of pocket cards containing policy proposals, quick facts and &ldquo;market tested messages&rdquo; on the one dozen highest priorities selected by Conservative Action Project leaders. The 12 priorities are divided into four categories: Constitutional Issues and the Judiciary; Preserving and Protecting Our Culture; Freeing Our Economy so Everyone Can Win; and Defending Our Freedoms.</p>
<p>The package provides a clear picture of the ideas that right-wing organizations are pushing Trump to embrace. Some are vague, like, &ldquo;The President should revive Public Diplomacy,&rdquo; but others are quite specific. Taken together, they&rsquo;re a pretty good indication of what we&rsquo;d have in store on the policy front with Trump in the White House.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Among the proposals, which signal the intense desire of right-wing organizations to infuse their priorities throughout the federal government&rsquo;s executive branch agencies:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Immediately rescind all Obama Executive Orders consistent with recommendations by Constitutional and trusted advisors such as The Federalist Society, The Heritage Foundation, and other conservative advisors and transition committees.</li>
<li>
Terminate all executive branch individuals still within their probationary period and freeze hiring for all regulatory positions.</li>
<li>
The President should eliminate taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood using executive action and seek a permanent legislative solution.</li>
<li>
The President should freeze and withdraw all regulatory activity on the Obama energy and climate agenda.</li>
<li>
Submit legislation to repeal Obamacare in its entirety.</li>
<li>
The President should support the rule of law and reject amnesty proposals and fully enforce and strengthen interior enforcement measures in the United States.</li>
</ul>
<p>The policy proposals listed under &ldquo;Restore Religious Freedom&rdquo; include calls for the president to ensure passage of the First Amendment Defense Act, which carves out exceptions from nondiscrimination laws for people who claim anti-LGBT religious beliefs, and to &ldquo;issue an Executive Order requiring that the Executive branch respect the 1st&nbsp;Amendment and provisions of the First Amendment Defense Act.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The package proposes a new tax code that is &ldquo;simpler, fairer, flatter and stimulates growth,&rdquo; insisting that all tax reform &ldquo;should lower individual and business tax rates, particularly the top marginal rates, to encourage saving and investing.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It says senators &ldquo;should vigorously question judicial nominees about their intent to remain faithful to the original meaning of the Constitution and laws.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On education, the movement&rsquo;s priority is to &ldquo;Advance School Choice,&rdquo; and it calls on the president to appoint &ldquo;a movement conservative&rdquo; as secretary of education. It wants the president to &ldquo;champion the policy of dollars following the children,&rdquo; language used by advocates for private school vouchers and other forms of public school privatization.</p>
<p>The Conservative Action Project&rsquo;s &ldquo;memos for the movement&rdquo; provide a further sense of the group&rsquo;s worldview.&nbsp; For example, it <a href="http://conservativeactionproject.com/religious-liberty/">responded to last year&rsquo;s marriage equality decision</a> by the Supreme Court in apocalyptic terms, saying, &ldquo;The Court&rsquo;s abuse of power is of such historic proportions that the conservative movement, and indeed every American who cherishes liberty must now address the serious damage done to the cause of freedom and the very foundation of our civil society.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The group has intensely <a href="http://conservativeactionproject.com/stop-the-momentum-forcing-donor-disclosure/">opposed efforts to expand disclosure requirements for political &ldquo;dark money,&rdquo;</a> portraying conservatives as &ldquo;a persecuted class&rdquo; who are &ldquo;bullied to either conform or suffer retribution.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Among its 2016 releases was a March <a href="http://conservativeactionproject.com/senate-republicans-are-resolute-let-the-people-speak/">memo urging Senate Republicans to be resolute in refusing to consider a nominee</a> from President Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat that became vacant with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Here&rsquo;s an excerpt from the group&rsquo;s thoughtful and rational rhetoric:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The president and his liberal allies know what is at stake and so do we.&nbsp; It is nothing short of their intent to eradicate precious constitutional rights. These leftists have made clear their first target is our 1st Amendment right to political speech and the silencing of conservative voices. They mock the 2nd Amendment right of the people to protect themselves and their families and are determined to take away our constitutional right to bear arms. They welcome the prospect of unleashing unaccountable federal agencies like the IRS and EPA to impose a liberal policy agenda that will harm Americans and punish any who dare to disagree with their worldview. And not least of all, they vow to use the Court&rsquo;s power to impose an &ldquo;unconditional surrender&rdquo; in their cultural war against our fundamental institutions of faith, family, marriage, home, and school &mdash; and will wipe out any pro-life protections, instead imposing abortion on-demand, up to the moment of birth, paid for by the taxpayers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryBecky Norton DunlopAmerican Conservative Union Anti-AbortionAnti-ChoiceAnti-GayAnti-LGBTElection 2016Heritage FoundationMarriage EqualityReligious LibertyRepublican PartyRNC 2016Supreme CourtConservative Action ProjectCouncil for National Policy Donald TrumpFamily Research CouncilFighting the Right77046Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:08:54 -0500Marriage EqualityRalph Reed Makes The Case For Donald Trumphttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ralph-reed-makes-case-donald-trump
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/ralph_reed_a.jpg?1360360758" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">One theme of this year&rsquo;s Republican National Convention is the Religious Right getting fully on board the Trump Train. Even before he vanquished Ted Cruz, his final primary opponent, Trump has been aggressively courting the Religious Right, and he has recently sought to shore up support from the movement leaders who backed Cruz and other candidates.</span></p>
<p>Yes, Trump is a habitual liar whose Bible-waving and political use of religious is transparently cynical, but that isn&rsquo;t stopping Religious Right leaders from rallying around him. And why not? He allowed the Religious Right to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-hails-gop-adopting-most-conservative-platform-modern-history">write anti-gay discrimination into the GOP's platform</a>. His promise to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-releases-supreme-court-list-including-conservative-dream-justices">fill the Supreme Court with right-wing justices</a> gives them hope that marriage equality in the U.S. will be short-lived. And he is even promising to overturn the federal law that forbids churches, like other tax-exempt nonprofits, from engaging in direct electoral politics, and to sign legislation defunding Planned Parenthood.</p>
<p>In Cleveland this week for the RNC, Religious Right <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/ralph-reed">political operative Ralph Reed</a> <a href="https://audioboom.com/boos/4837327-the-evangelical-vote-1-2">spoke with Doug Wright</a>, &ldquo;Utah&rsquo;s most listened to talk show host.&rdquo; Polls show that <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/07/14/485875624/mormons-uneasy-with-trump-make-a-question-of-reliably-red-utah">many of Utah&rsquo;s Mormon voters are resisting the call to unite behind Trump.</a></p>
<p>When asked why so many evangelicals are supporting Trump in spite of his &ldquo;interesting&rdquo; background, his use of &ldquo;vulgarities,&rdquo; and other things that might concern a conservative Christian, Reed said, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not electing a pastor-in-chief, you&rsquo;re electing a commander-in-chief.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Reed reminded Wright that evangelicals backed Mitt Romney in the 2012 general election even though they had a different approach to faith, and even though Romney had previously held pro-choice and pro-gay views, something for which some conservatives have criticized Trump. &ldquo;I thought we were members of a faith where we were supposed to welcome converts,&rdquo; said Reed.</p>
<p>In fact, said Reed, he thinks Trump &ldquo;has the potential to be the greatest advocate for our values, and do the most to advance that agenda, precisely because he doesn&rsquo;t necessarily come from where we come from.&rdquo; In other words, because people don&rsquo;t view Trump as a Religious Right activist, they might be more receptive to his call for ending the ban on church politicking.</p>
<p>Here&rsquo;s Reed&rsquo;s basic case for Trump, starting with the fact that &ldquo;he is a professing Christian.&rdquo;</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">More importantly&hellip;he shares our values. He&rsquo;s pro-life. He&rsquo;s pro-traditional marriage, which is very important to us&hellip;He&rsquo;s pro-religious freedom. He supported the Hobby Lobby Decision, supports Little Sisters of the Poor, has placed in the platform, at his insistence, at this convention, for the first time in the history of the Republican Party, a call for the repeal of the Johnson Amendment to the internal revenue code, which threatens churches that speak out politically with the loss of their tax-exempt status. That has been used to harass and persecute the Christian community for over half a century. Donald Trump will end it.</span></p>
</blockquote>
Peter MontgomeryElection 2016Equality For AllGOP platformMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityRalph Reed Republican PartyRNC 2016Supreme CourtDonald TrumpFair and Just CourtsFighting the RightReligious Liberty76841Wed, 20 Jul 2016 16:25:00 -0500Marriage EqualityPlenty Of Anti-LGBT Speakers At Trump's Conventionhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/plenty-anti-lgbt-speakers-trumps-convention
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="614" height="383" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/Donald-Trump.jpg?1437406004" />
<p><em>In the lead-up to and during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, we&rsquo;ll be profiling some of the activists and politicians invited to speak at the event. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/meet-speakers">Find more of our Meet the Speakers series here</a>.</em></p>
<p>As Peter<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-out-muscles-pro-equality-republicans"> noted</a> earlier today, speculation that Donald Trump may move the Republican Party into greater acceptance of LGBT people is hard to take seriously given the GOP platform committee&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-out-muscles-pro-equality-republicans">approval this week</a> of an exceptionally anti-LGBT platform, not to mention the anti-LGBT activists whom Trump himself has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-taps-michele-bachmann-james-dobson-other-far-right-leaders-advisory-board"> enthusiastically embraced </a> in his quest for the presidency.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/287685-speakers-announced-for-gop-convention">preliminary list</a> of this year&rsquo;s Republican National Convention speakers should also put that idea to rest.</p>
<p>Along with the many businessmen and celebrity buddies of Trump who appear on the speakers list are a number of activists and politicians who have long records of anti-LGBT activism.</p>
<p>Jerry Falwell Jr., the son of Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell and one of Trump&rsquo;s earliest endorsers from the Religious Right, has a speaking slot. Falwell is the head of Liberty University, the school founded by his father, which is well known for its<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/liberty-university-hosting-two-day-anti-gay-conference">anti-gay politics</a> and <a href="https://www.liberty.edu/media/1190/documents/Honor-Code.pdf">student policies</a> discouraging homosexuality. Liberty University is closely affiliated with Liberty Counsel, the anti-gay legal group that <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/meet-hate-group-trying-turn-kim-davis-anti-gay-rosa-parks">represented Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis</a> in her quest to defy the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling.</p>
<p>Also speaking will be three former GOP presidential rivals to Trump who are known for their anti-LGBT politics.</p>
<p>Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who hooked his presidential campaign on an appeal to Religious Right voters, will have a speaking slot. As we <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-quits-presidential-race-can-now-spend-more-time-peddling-bogus-diabetes-cures"> previously wrote </a> , Huckabee managed to cover plenty of extremist ground just in his 2016 campaign:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>After all, Huckabee had vowed to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-there-will-be-no-abortion-when-im-president">outlaw abortion</a> with a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/what-mike-huckabee-means-giving-14th-amendment-rights-fetuses">sweeping</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-will-outlaw-abortion-executive-fiat">presidential</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-vows-ban-abortion-even-if-it-causes-riots-streets">decree</a>,<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-ignore-gay-marriage-ruling-save-our-republic">promised</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-thinks-gay-marriage-still-illegal-heres-whats-wrong">to</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/huckabee-promises-far-right-conference-hell-ignore-obergefell-and-roe">defy</a> the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-gay-community-wont-rest-until-there-are-no-more-churches">before it</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-gay-marriage-ruling-will-criminalize-christianity-threaten-republic">criminalized</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-defends-ex-gay-therapy-warns-gay-rights-will-outlaw-christianity-god-help-us-a"> Christianity </a> and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-america-will-not-survive-gay-marriage">destroyed America</a>, and literally turned Kentucky clerk Kim Davis&rsquo; release from detention&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-god-took-form-kim-davis-holy-miracle-freed-her-jail">into a campaign rally</a>, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/lock-me-mike-huckabee-volunteers-go-jail-kim-davis-behalf">volunteering to go to jail on her behalf</a>. The former Arkansas governor even <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-boycott-rainbow-doritos-chick-fil-boycott-was-economic-terrorism"> pledged to boycott Doritos </a> because the company released rainbow-colored chips benefiting an LGBT suicide prevention group and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gays-lighting-america-fire-mike-huckabee-warns-freedom-under-attack-fringe-anti-gay-movie">starred</a> in <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/light-wins">a bizarre anti-gay film</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Then there&rsquo;s Ben Carson, who attracted plenty of attention during his presidential run for<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ben-carson-prisons-gay-choice/">claiming that prison rape</a> proves that being gay is a choice. Carson <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-abnormal-lgbt-people-shouldnt-get-extra-rights">insisted</a> that &ldquo;abnormal&rdquo; LGBT people shouldn&rsquo;t get &ldquo;extra rights&rdquo; and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-impeach-justices-if-they-back-gay-marriage">called for the impeachment</a> of justices who back gay marriage. He also argued, as Brian has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-ends-his-weird-grifting-bigoted-ride-white-house">summarized</a>, that the gay rights movement is &ldquo;part of a wider<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-gay-rights-pro-choice-activists-use-hate-speech-are-enemies-america">anti-American</a>, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-lgbt-affirming-pastors-put-their-finger-eye-god">anti-God</a>, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-warns-americans-are-losing-first-amendment-rights-speak-against-marriage-equality"> anti-Constitution </a> plot <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-conspiracy-books-prove-gay-rights-are-communist-plot-against-america"> conjured up by communist subversives </a> and the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ben-carson-explains-how-gay-marriage-marxist-plot-impose-new-world-order">New World Order</a>.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C10mFuErI1I" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Then there&rsquo;s Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who, along with <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-wont-stop-lying-about-lgbt-people">repeatedly lying about LGBT people</a>, accused the gay community of waging <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-gay-community-waging-jihad-against-religious-freedom">a &ldquo;jihad&rdquo; against people of faith</a>:</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NmoGgziNTS0" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Cruz and Huckabee were both so eager to win the votes of anti-gay extremists that they <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/maddow-calls-out-gopers-kill-gays-rally-appearance">attended a conference last year</a> at which the organizer, radical pastor Kevin Swanson,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-no-death-penalty-gays-until-they-have-time-repent">repeatedly</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/if-kevin-swansons-son-got-gay-married-id-sit-cow-manure-and-id-spread-it-all-over-my-body">declared</a> that the Bible demands that gay people be put to death.</p>
<p>And there are many more. Newt Gingrich, when he was running for president in 2011, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/12/15/389935/gingrich-signs-noms-anti-gay-marriage-pledge/"> signed the National Organization for Marriage&rsquo;s candidate pledge </a> to support a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality and <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-presidential-primary/199785-gingrich-signs-anti-gay-marriage-pledge-says-homosexuality-a-choice"> said that he would reinstate </a> &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t Ask, Don&rsquo;t Tell.&rdquo; In 2008, Gingrich <a href="http://politicalcorrection.org/factcheck/201105110003#gay">warned</a> that "there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, is prepared to use harassment.&rdquo; Mike Pence, who&rsquo;s now being reported to be Trump&rsquo;s vice presidential pick, has a <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/donald-trump-mike-pence-vice-president-abortion-gay">long record of opposing LGBT</a> rights, including signing a bill in Indiana last year that would authorize broad discrimination against LGBT people, before <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/237471-pence-calls-for-immediate-fix-to-controversial-law">backing down under public pressure</a> to amend the law.</p>
<p>While few sitting members of Congress are showing up to the convention, among those invited to speak are several with strongly anti-LGBT records. Just this year, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/19/gop-leader-uses-bullsh-t-tactic-to-kill-lgbt-rights-legislation.html">personally twisted arms</a> to ensure the last-minute defeat of a provision that would have protected LGBT people from employment discrimination from federal contractors, creating a <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fight-gets-ugly-house-floor-over-lgbt-rights-n577021">chaotic scene</a> on the House floor. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee was i<a href="http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2012/11/07/gay-rights-foe-marsha-blackburn-reelected-congress-tennessee">nstrumental</a> in making the 2012 Republican platform reach new levels of anti-LGBT sentiment (although this year&rsquo;s platform is <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-out-muscles-pro-equality-republicans">even worse</a>). Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, when she was a state legislator, <a href="http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2013/02/26/iowa-senate-republicans-try-again-to-ban-same-sex-marriage-gay-rights-advocates-decry-shameful-move"> tried to get a referendum on the ballot </a> in an effort to overturn the state supreme court&rsquo;s landmark marriage equality ruling. She has claimed she wants to leave the marriage issue to the states, but at the same time has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/29/joni-ernst-gay-marriage_n_5414525.html">said that she would support</a> a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage.</p>
Miranda BlueBen CarsonAnti-GayC4Election 2016Equality For AllJerry Falwell Jr. Joni ErnstKevin McCarthyMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityMarsha BlackburnMeet the SpeakersMike Huckabee Mike Pence Newt Gingrich RNC 2016Ted CruzDonald TrumpFighting the Right76546Thu, 14 Jul 2016 15:48:49 -0500Marriage EqualityReligious Right Out-Muscles Pro-Equality Republicanshttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-out-muscles-pro-equality-republicans
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/tony_perkins_a.jpg?1349206815" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">We have lost count of how many times the Religious Right has been declared spent as a political force. Those declarations have always </span><a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/02/01/the_christian_right_alive_and_powerful/" style="line-height: 20.4px;">been wrong, </a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">and this year&rsquo;s Republican Party platform is the latest sign of the movement&rsquo;s continued power.</span></p>
<p>Four years ago, we called the GOP platform &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/6-right-wing-zealots-and-crazy-ideas-behind-most-outrageous-republican-platform-ever">a far-right fever dream</a>, a compilation of pouting, posturing, and policies to meet just about every demand from the overlapping Religious Right, Tea Party, corporate, and neo-conservative wings of the GOP.&rdquo; Yet this year&rsquo;s platform is even further to the right.</p>
<p>It wasn&rsquo;t supposed to be this way. In 2012, Religious Right leaders spent the entire week in Tampa bragging about how they had essentially written the platform. But pro-LGBT Republicans were <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-gays-have-hope-perkins-has-power">remarkably confident</a> that it would never happen again. At the time, the Log Cabin Republicans vowed that never again would the party platform be hostile to LGBT equality. Former member of Congress Jim Kolbe said the anti-gay sentiment in that year&rsquo;s platform was &ldquo;the last gasp of the conservatives.&rdquo; The upbeat attitude had us wondering about <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-gays-have-hope-perkins-has-power">&ldquo;the fine, fuzzy line dividing optimism from delusion.&rdquo;</a></p>
<p>Well, there&rsquo;s nothing left to wonder about. In spite of an <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/gay-republicans-lgbt-platform-225362">organized</a> and well-funded campaign by LGBT-friendly conservatives, Religious Right activists <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bad-news-republicans-hoping-platform-less-hostile-lgbt-equality">made sure</a> that they <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-letting-religious-right-leaders-have-their-way-gop-platform">dominated</a> the platform committee. During the committee&rsquo;s deliberations on proposed amendments on Monday and Tuesday, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-republican-platform-committee-affirms-opposition-lgbt-equality">every effort to moderate the language on LGBT rights was rejected</a>, including tame language that would have acknowledged growing support within the party for marriage equality. The Log Cabin Republicans are calling this year&rsquo;s document <a href="http://www.metroweekly.com/2016/07/log-cabin-fundraising-email-mad-as-hell-rnc-platform/">&ldquo;the most anti-LGBT Platform in the Party&rsquo;s 162-year history.&rdquo;</a></p>
<p>Even an amendment that would have recognized the LGBT victims of ISIS terror was deemed too much. The Family Research Council&rsquo;s Tony Perkins is <a href="https://www.frcaction.org/updatearticle/20160713/gop-platform">bragging</a> that he and fellow Louisiana delegate Sandy McDade, Eagle Forum&rsquo;s political chairman, watered that language down so that it refers generically to all people terrorized by ISIS.</p>
<p>The platform includes Religious Right-approved language opposing marriage equality and endorsing legislation to give legal protection to anti-LGBT discrimination in the name of religious liberty. And it calls for eliminating the IRS provision that prevents churches, like other nonprofits, from engaging in direct electoral advocacy &mdash; one of the promises Donald Trump has made to win Religious Right support.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-s-super-far-right-platform-completed-drama-continues">seemingly last-ditch effort by LGBT-friendly delegates</a> to require a vote on a &ldquo;minority report&rdquo; to replace the long platform with a short statement of principles is now being denounced by Perkins and Religious Right activist David Barton as an attempt by gays to hijack the platform process. Its odds of success seem vanishingly small.</p>
<p>Log Cabin Republicans President Gregory Angelo says he&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.metroweekly.com/2016/07/log-cabin-fundraising-email-mad-as-hell-rnc-platform/">&ldquo;mad as hell&rdquo;</a> about the new platform, but in the same email he tries to distance the document from Donald Trump, who Angelo <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/12/16/the-lgbt-pick-for-the-gop-nomination-donald-trump/">praised last December</a> as &ldquo;one of the best, if not the best, pro-gay Republican candidates to ever run for the presidency.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Not long after that, as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/gays-for-trump-log-cabin-republicans_b_9128882.html">journalist Michelangelo Signorile noted</a>, Trump accepted the endorsement of Jerry Falwell Jr. and promised to put right-wing justices on the Supreme Court. In January he promised to <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2016/01/26/trump-promises-to-make-christianity-powerful-again/">make Christianity (read right-wing Christianity) more powerful</a>. More recently, Trump <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/transcript-donald-trumps-closed-door-meeting-with-evangelical-leaders-195810824.html">reiterated his promises</a> in a <a href="http://religionnews.com/2016/06/21/trump-to-top-evangelicals-im-so-on-your-side-im-a-tremendous-believer/">closed-door meeting with hundreds of conservative Christian leaders</a>, where he told them, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m on your side.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Trump may be willing to let Caitlin Jenner use the bathroom of her choice at his office building, but he was unwilling to lift a finger to keep the party from supporting states that pass laws preventing transgender people from using bathrooms that match their identity &mdash; or from declaring in many ways that the party remains officially opposed to legal equality for LGBT people.</p>
<p>The presumptive Republican nominee is all bluster and toughness when he is denouncing political correctness, but he turns meekly obliging when dealing with the Religious Right leaders he is counting on to turn out the vote.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryAnti-GayAnti-LGBTElection 2016Equality For AllGOP platformJerry Falwell Jr. Log Cabin RepublicansMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityRepublican PartyRNC 2016Sandy McDadeTony Perkins David Barton Donald TrumpEagle Forum Family Research CouncilFRC Action Fighting the Right76511Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:10:40 -0500Marriage EqualityTrump Invites Anti-Government Extremist Sheriff To Speak At GOP Conventionhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-invites-anti-government-extremist-sheriff-speak-gop-convention
<p><em style="line-height: 20.4px;">In the lead-up to and during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, we&rsquo;ll be profiling some of the activists and politicians invited to speak at the event. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/meet-speakers">Find more of our Meet the Speakers series here</a>.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p>The Republican National Convention <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/287685-speakers-announced-for-gop-convention">released a partial list</a> today of the politicians, activists, C-list celebrities and Donald Trump family members who will be speaking at next week&rsquo;s convention. What the speakers&rsquo; list <a href="http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2016/7/13/notable_people_not_going_to_the_republican_convention.html"> lacks in establishment GOP leaders </a> it makes up for in fringe activists. One name especially stands out: Sheriff David Clarke, the Milwaukee law enforcement officer who has made a name for himself hurling anti-Obama vitriol on Fox News and elsewhere while quietly cozying up to anti-government extremist groups.</p>
<p>Clarke, who is African American, has built a conservative following by enthusiastically bashing President Obama, his Justice Department, Hillary Clinton and the Black Lives Matter movement.</p>
<p>Clarke has called the Black Lives Matter movement &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scott-walkers-black-lives-matter-adviser-calls-movement-black-slime">black slime</a>&rdquo; that &ldquo;needs to be eradicated from the American society and the American culture,&rdquo; &ldquo;<a href="https://mediamatters.org/video/2015/10/26/fox-regular-david-clarke-black-lives-matter-is/206416">garbage</a>&rdquo; and a &ldquo;<a href="https://mediamatters.org/video/2015/10/26/fox-regular-david-clarke-black-lives-matter-is/206416">subversive movement</a>&rdquo; that seeks to overthrow the government, and said that the movement is driven by &ldquo;<a href="https://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/12/29/how-fox-news-primetime-lineup-demonized-black-l/207637">an ideology of victimhood</a> with a list of grievances that do not exist.&rdquo; He has dismissed concerns about police brutality by saying that &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-clarke-calls-obama-heartless-soulless-bastard-sticking-goons-freddie-gray-and-eric-gar">black criminal abuse, black criminal brutality</a>&rdquo; is &ldquo;the real brutality going on in the United States.&rdquo; The <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scott-walkers-black-lives-matter-expert-wants-black-lives-matter-shut">real problem</a> in &ldquo;the American ghetto,&rdquo; he has said, is &ldquo;modern liberalism.&rdquo;</p>
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<p>Clarke said that Michael Brown, the black teenager shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri, was a &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rights-favorite-sheriff-michael-brown-chose-thug-life-was-coconspirator-his-own-demise">co-conspirator in his own demise</a>&rdquo; because he &ldquo;chose thug life.&rdquo; After Sandra Bland, a black woman who had been thrown to the ground during a traffic stop, died in police custody, Clarke went on Fox News to <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/07/23/megyn-kelly-on-sandra-bland-case-even-if-you-kn/204571">chastise her</a>. He said that he <a href="http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/06/17/david-clarke-ohio-police-clashing-family-public-pool">would have used even more force</a> against a group of black teenagers who were thrown to the ground by police outside a public swimming pool in Ohio, telling people who saw a racial component in the action to &ldquo;shut up already.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Clarke has been colorful in his condemnation of President Obama and Hillary Clinton for sympathizing with the Black Lives Matter movement, calling them &ldquo;<a href="https://mediamatters.org/video/2016/07/08/fox-regular-david-clarke-obama-and-clinton-are-straight-cop-haters/211458">straight-up cop haters</a>.&rdquo; He called Obama a &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-clarke-calls-obama-heartless-soulless-bastard-sticking-goons-freddie-gray-and-eric-gar">heartless, soulless bastard</a>&rdquo; for speaking up about &ldquo;goons&rdquo; killed by police and said that the Obama administration&rsquo;s attempts to address racial disparities in policing were a plot to &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tea-party-sheriff-obama-trying-emasculate-police-order-impose-dictatorial-control">emasculate the police</a>&rdquo; in order to impose dictatorial control.&rdquo; He <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/sheriff-david-clarke-obama-has-pitted-whites-against-blacks-and-hispanics-against-americans"> accused the president </a> of worsening racial divides in the country by pitting &ldquo;whites against blacks&rdquo; and &ldquo;Hispanics against Americans.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The sheriff is also happy to throw red meat to his conservative audience on a number of other topics. After the Supreme Court struck down state marriage equality bans, Clarke called for a &ldquo;revolution&rdquo; to &ldquo;get this country back,&rdquo; complete with &ldquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tea-party-sheriff-calls-pitchforks-and-torches-response-marriage-equality-ruling">pitchforks and torches</a> ,&rdquo; urging his audience to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tea-party-sheriff-calls-pitchforks-and-torches-response-marriage-equality-ruling">launch a standoff</a> against the federal government the next time a bakery or the like is fined for refusing business to a same-sex couple.</p>
<p>When Trump caused a national uproar when he attacked a judge because of his Mexican-American heritage, Clarke took to his radio show to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-clarke-trump-slamming-mexican-judge-just-saying-obama-first-black-president">defend the candidate</a>.</p>
<p>Clarke first became a conservative hero when, in 2013, he <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-picks-voter-fraud-conspiracy-theorist-constitutional-sheriff-testify-against-loretta-lyn"> aired radio ads </a> in his county urging citizens not to rely on calling 911 but instead to learn to protect themselves against crime. Speaking at the National Rifle Association&rsquo;s convention last year, he <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/nra-speaker-proposes-adding-semi-automatic-rifle-us-seal">proposed adding a semi-automatic rifle</a> to the Great Seal of the United States. Appearing on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones&rsquo; radio program, Clarke warned that a renewal of the federal assault weapons ban would lead to gun confiscations that would spark &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/walker-signs-new-gun-laws-office-extremist-sheriff-who-wanted-add-semi-automatic-rifle-great">the second coming of the American Revolution</a>, the likes of which would make the first revolution pale by comparison.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3w9W43nwN7M" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>While Clarke has no patience for African Americans who have deadly run-ins with the police, he has repeatedly associated himself with anti-government militia groups who have staged armed standoffs with federal government agents or who threaten to defy federal law. Earlier this year, when a group of armed activists took over a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, Clarke <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fox-news-sheriff-government-should-stand-down-oregon-prevent-armed-conflict">backed their cause</a>, saying that the country had reached a &ldquo;pitchforks and torches moment&rdquo; that couldn&rsquo;t be solved by an election.</p>
<p>In 2013, after he aired his ads discouraging citizens from relying on 911, Clarke accepted the &ldquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-picks-voter-fraud-conspiracy-theorist-constitutional-sheriff-testify-against-loretta-lyn"> Constitutional Sheriff of the Year</a>&rdquo; award from the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/line-sand">Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association</a>, an anti-government group that <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/10/30/sheriff-david-clarke-plays-straight-talking-cop-cable-tv-his-agenda-springs-far-right"> promotes the idea </a> that county sheriffs are the highest law enforcement officers in the country and thus have the power to defy federal laws that they believe are unconstitutional. In his <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/10/30/sheriff-david-clarke-plays-straight-talking-cop-cable-tv-his-agenda-springs-far-right"> acceptance speech </a> , Clarke declared that &ldquo;government&rdquo; was the &ldquo;common enemy&rdquo; of the &ldquo;patriots&rdquo; in the room. In a <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2013/%E2%80%98sheriff-year%E2%80%99-says-government-greater-threat-terrorists"> radio interview </a> that year, he said that &ldquo;on an everyday basis, to me, federal government is a bigger threat&rdquo; than terrorism.</p>
<p>Just this year, Clarke <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fox-news-favorite-sheriff-will-speak-radical-anti-government-oath-keepers">spoke at a fundraising event</a> for the New York chapter of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government group aligned with the Constitutional Sheriffs that urges law enforcement officers and military personnel to defy laws they believe are unconstitutional and <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/elmer-stewart-rhodes-0">encourages its members to form militias</a> ready to defy an out-of-control federal government. At that event, Clarke <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-ny-senate-candidate-speaks-militant-oath-keepers-group">called Black Lives Matter</a> a &ldquo;hate group&rdquo; and vowed to do &ldquo;everything I can&rdquo; to get Trump elected president.</p>
Miranda BlueAnti-GovernmentBlack Lives MatterC4Election 2016gun lobbyMarriage EqualityMeet the SpeakersNational Rifle AssociationOath KeepersRNC 2016WisconsinConstitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers AssociationDavid ClarkeDonald TrumpFighting the Right76506Thu, 14 Jul 2016 10:39:25 -0500Marriage EqualityNOM Spokesman: LGBT Advocates Promoting 'Social Experimentation Upon Our Children'http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/nom-spokesman-lgbt-advocates-promoting-social-experimentation-upon-our-children
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Gay_Parents_A.jpg?1428673120" />
<p>National Organization for Marriage spokesman Joe Grabowski urged the Republican Party maintain the opposition to LGBT rights in its platform yesterday, saying in a radio interview that LGBT advocates are promoting &ldquo;social experimentation upon our children&rdquo; that will result in greater costs to the state and arguing that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s just responsible to the laws of nature&rdquo; for the GOP to continue to oppose LGBT rights.</p>
<p align="center"><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/273542304&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p>Grabowski said on the Christian radio program &ldquo;<a href="http://issuesetc.org/2016/07/12/2-the-gop-platform-and-homosexual-marriage-joe-grabowski-71216/">Issues, Etc.</a>&rdquo;:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Marriage as the building block of society, stable families, loving mother and father; all of these things have been shown to be the best environment to raise children so that they don&rsquo;t become costs to the state, so that the state programs don&rsquo;t have to step in and take care of the fallout when children come from broken homes, broken marriages, and from social experimentation upon our children, which is really what a lot of policies advocated by LGBT activists essentially are. So, it&rsquo;s fiscally responsible, it&rsquo;s constitutionally responsible and it&rsquo;s just responsible to the laws of nature to continue to be the party of these family values.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>NOM ended up getting its wish; yesterday morning the GOP&rsquo;s platform committee <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-republican-platform-committee-affirms-opposition-lgbt-equality">shot down</a> attempts to moderate its opposition to LGBT rights and added language calling for the reversal of the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality decision.</p>
Miranda BlueAnti-GayC4Joe GrabowskyMarriage EqualityNational Organization for MarriageRNC 2016Fighting the Right76476Wed, 13 Jul 2016 16:09:22 -0500Marriage EqualityRight-Wing Republican Platform Committee Affirms Opposition to LGBT Equalityhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-republican-platform-committee-affirms-opposition-lgbt-equality
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/tony_perkins_a.jpg?1349206815" />
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">We noted yesterday that Religious Right leaders had spent months </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-letting-religious-right-leaders-have-their-way-gop-platform" style="line-height: 20.4px;">making sure that the Republican platform committee would be stacked with &ldquo;strong conservative voices&rdquo;</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> in order to resist an </span><a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/12/02/high-hopes-for-lgbt-inclusion-in-2016-party-platforms/" style="line-height: 20.4px;">organized effort</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> by pro-equality Republicans to replace anti-gay language in </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/6-right-wing-zealots-and-crazy-ideas-behind-most-outrageous-republican-platform-ever" style="line-height: 20.4px;">2012&rsquo;s far-right platform</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> with something more inclusive. Yesterday&rsquo;s </span><a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?412478-1/republican-national-committee-holds-platform-hearing" style="line-height: 20.4px;">platform committee session</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> made it clear that the Right Wing was successful, as efforts to amend the draft platform language were repeatedly </span><a href="http://www.cleveland.com/rnc-2016/index.ssf/2016/07/republican_party_platform_comm.html" style="line-height: 20.4px;">batted down</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">.</span></p>
<p>Instead the committee affirmed the party&rsquo;s support for marriage only for one man and one woman. The platform specifically rejects the Supreme Court&rsquo;s marriage equality ruling and calls for its reversal <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/us/politics/republican-convention-issues.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0">&ldquo;whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states.&rdquo;</a></p>
<p>A delegate from D.C., Rachel Hoff, identified herself as the first openly gay member of the platform committee and joked that as she hadn&rsquo;t been raised in a Republican family, she wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;born this way&rdquo; and chose to be a Republican. But her colleagues were unmoved by her heartfelt plea for a more inclusive platform and rejected language that would have encouraged a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/us/politics/rachel-hoff-gop-issues.html?partner=rss&emc=rss">&ldquo;thoughtful conversation&rdquo;</a> and&nbsp; recognized the growing support among Republicans for marriage equality (a 2014 Pew poll found <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/10/61-of-young-republicans-favor-same-sex-marriage/">more than 60-percent support for marriage equality among Republicans under 30</a>).</p>
<p>There were a few libertarian-leaning voices on the committee, and they tended to appear younger than the average member, but they were out-gunned on LGBT issues as well as challenges to drug war orthodoxy and support for medicinal marijuana. Perhaps in deference to the twice-divorced and thrice-married Donald Trump, platform committee members did vote down an amendment condemning no-fault divorce. The committee voted to keep in language calling on government officials to encourage schools to teach the Bible as literature.</p>
<p>Some of the debate was spirited even if the results were ultimately one-sided. When a conservative delegate proposed inserting &ldquo;traditional&rdquo; before &ldquo;two-parent families&rdquo; in a section about what is best for children, a couple of delegates called it an extra slap in the face to LGBT people and an insult to single parents, but the amendment passed. When a New York delegate challenged language supporting the First Amendment Defense Act &mdash; a federal bill to give legal protection to anti-LGBT discrimination &mdash; a Virginia delegate accused her of calling the bill&rsquo;s supporters bigots, language she had not used.</p>
<p>Among the members of the committee who have worked to make sure the platform keeps the party&rsquo;s social conservatives happy: the Family Research Council&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a>; discredited Christian-nation &ldquo;historian&rdquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/david-barton">David Barton</a>; former Texas Board of Education member <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/cynthia-dunbar">Cynthia Dunbar</a>; Eagle Forum political chair <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/sandy-mcdade">Sandy McDade</a>; right-wing attorney <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/james-bopp">James Bopp</a>; and Center for Arizona Policy founder Len Munsil.</p>
<p>Munsil, who now heads Arizona Christian University, gave the prayer to open today&rsquo;s platform committee session, which began a little after 8 a.m. with a discussion of the platform&rsquo;s economic policy section. Munsil&rsquo;s prayer had echoes of the Christian-nation rhetoric of activists like Barton and David Lane; he referenced the Mayflower Compact, said God has blessed America because &ldquo;we have honored You and Your word,&rdquo; and prayed, &ldquo;in the mighty name of Jesus,&rdquo; for &ldquo;an awakening among our leaders.&rdquo;</p>
Peter Montgomery2016 CandidatesAnti-GayAnti-LGBTElection 2016Equality For AllGOP platformJames Bopp Len MunsilMarriage EqualityMarriage EqualityRepublican PartyRNC 2016Sandy McDadeTony Perkins Cynthia DunbarDavid Barton Fighting the Right76341Tue, 12 Jul 2016 09:39:06 -0500Marriage EqualityFive Right-Wing Predictions About Marriage Equality That Still Haven't Come Truehttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/five-right-wing-predictions-about-marriage-equality-still-havent-come-true
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="1200" height="600" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/PAT-ROBERTSON-facebook.jpg?1444334968" />
<p>Sunday marked the first anniversary of the Supreme Court&rsquo;s landmark marriage equality decision, which, if Religious Right activists were to be believed, was to usher in a horrible tyranny that would lead to mass deaths and war.</p>
<p>Of course, the Right&rsquo;s doomsday predictions about what would happen if same-sex marriage became legal nationwide were totally unfounded, and only <a href="http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/national_organization_for_marriage_s_march_for_marriage_in_dc_is_a_total_dud"> a tiny contingent of conservatives</a>came to a protest the ruling in Washington, D.C., this weekend.</p>
<p>While the conservative movement certainly hasn&rsquo;t given up on the fight against LGBT rights and is thrilled by Donald Trump&rsquo;s<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-tashman/donald-trump-cozies-up-to_b_10377170.html">promise</a> to appoint anti-LGBT judges who would <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-trust-me-overturn-shocking-gay-marriage-decision">oppose</a> the marriage ruling, many activists have <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/5-years-after-passage-hate-crimes-law-religious-rights-dire-predictions-still-havent-come-tr"> once again shown </a> that they are more interested in stirring up fears about the LGBT community than in the facts.</p>
<p>Here are just five of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ten-plagues-gay-marriage-conservatives-warn-terrorist-attacks-war-and-prison-due-scotus-ruli">craziest</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/murder-masses-7-insane-right-wing-predictions-about-gay-marriage">predictions</a> that conservative politicians and pundits made about Obergefell v. Hodges, all of which are yet to come true.</p>
<p><strong>1)</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>War&rsquo;s A-Brewin&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Many &ldquo;mainstream&rdquo; Religious Right leaders said that if the Supreme Court were to strike down state bans on same-sex marriage, Americans should prepare for a revolution.</p>
<p>Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, for example, said there would be <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/perkins-if-scotus-legalizes-gay-marriage-it-could-lead-revolution"> an anti-gay &ldquo;revolution&rdquo; that would &ldquo;just break this nation apart&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;if marriage bans were overturned, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/perkins-revolution-possible-if-court-goes-too-far-marriage-equality-cases"> warning that such a ruling would</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;literally split this nation in two and create such political and cultural turmoil that I&rsquo;m not sure we could recover from it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mat Staver and Matt Barber of the Religious Right legal group Liberty Counsel made similar statements, with Barber declaring that &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/barber-revolution-hand-if-scotus-legalizes-gay-marriage">revolution is at hand</a>&rdquo; and Staver claiming that there would be a &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/staver-were-seeing-beginning-groundswell-potential-new-american-revolution">new American Revolution</a>&rdquo; resisting marriage equality. Former House GOP Leader Tom DeLay insisted that &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tom-delay-all-hell-going-break-loose-if-scotus-backs-marriage-equality">all hell&rdquo; was &ldquo;going to break loose</a>&rdquo; if the court sided with LGBT activists on marriage.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to fight to our deaths to save this great country,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cliff-kincaid-pledges-fight-death-against-gay-marriage-it-destroys-america">said</a> Cliff Kincaid of the conservative group Accuracy In Media, while Vision America&rsquo;s Rick Scarborough vowed that he was willing to &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-scarborough-ready-burn-death-fight-gay-marriage">burn</a>&rdquo; in defiance of gay marriage, which he said would &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-scarborough-gay-marriage-will-unleash-spirit-hell-nation">unleash the spirit of hell on the nation</a>.&rdquo;</p>
<p>One year later, no anti-gay revolution has occurred and Rick Scarborough has not self-immolated.</p>
<p><strong>2)</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>Secession</strong></p>
<p>Just before the ruling, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/conservative-pundit-millions-will-flee-america-demand-secession-over-gay-marriage"> called on governors &ldquo;to secede&rdquo; from the union</a>&nbsp;in order &ldquo;to offer a refuge&rdquo; for the &ldquo;millions of Americans&rdquo; who he believed would flee the country as a result of marriage equality. &ldquo;The rewards could be great. I would certainly consider relocating. How about you?&rdquo; he <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/conservative-pundit-millions-will-flee-america-demand-secession-over-gay-marriage">asked</a>. &ldquo;If not a state, are there any nations in the world interested in a pilgrimage by millions of Americans?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Focus on the Family founder James Dobson warned that the U.S. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-dobson-gay-marriage-will-lead-civil-war">could witness a second civil war</a> over a same-sex marriage decision and televangelist Rick Joyner <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-joyner-gay-marriage-may-lead-civil-war">predicted</a> that the court would &ldquo;start an unraveling where our country fractures like it hasn&rsquo;t since the Civil War.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs, for her part, said that she and other &ldquo;prophets&rdquo; had heard from God about a great &ldquo;conservative revolt&rdquo; and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/prophet-cindy-jacobs-warns-second-civil-war-coming-due-gay-marriage-anti-christian-persecuti"> a &ldquo;War between the States&rdquo; that would take place as states threatened to secede</a>&nbsp;to preserve &ldquo;biblical marriage&rdquo;.</p>
<p>Conservative activist Alan Keyes said the ruling amounted to &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/alan-keyes-gay-marriage-ruling-just-cause-war">a just cause for war</a>&rdquo; and was &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/alan-keyes-gay-marriage-will-lead-dissolution-united-states">likely to produce the separation and dissolution of the United States</a>,&rdquo; while one author, former Reagan aide Douglas MacKinnon, called on a group of Southern states to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/author-wants-southern-states-secede-over-gay-rights-name-new-country-reagan"> form a new country called Reagan that would not tolerate gay rights</a>.</p>
<p>We are still waiting for such a brave governor to threaten secession.</p>
<p><strong>3)</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>God&rsquo;s Punishment</strong></p>
<p>Gay marriage would lead to a divine reckoning, many conservative pundits predicted, possibly in the form of a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-god-destroy-financial-markets-now-sodomites-can-marry">global financial crash</a>, a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jim-bakker-buy-horses-god-sends-emp-attack-punishment-gay-marriage">nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack</a> or &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-wiles-warns-fireball-space-if-supreme-court-strikes-down-gay-marriage-bans">a fireball from space</a>.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is just a question of how soon the wrath of God is going to come on this land,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-gay-marriage-will-lead-gods-wrath-turn-us-sodom">televangelist Pat Robertson warned</a>. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trumps-team-bigoted-unhinged-conspiracy-theorists-benefiting-donald-trumps-campaign"> Florida-based pastor Carl Gallups</a>, now a staunch Donald Trump ally, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/far-right-flee-america-god-destroys-us-gay-marriage">maintained</a> that &ldquo;this ruling may prove to be the final death knell of divine judgment upon our once great nation.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Radio host Rick Wiles <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-wiles-time-flee-america-due-gay-marriage">predicted</a> that &ldquo;God will cut off America&rsquo;s food supply and this nation will be hit with disease, pestilence, drought, natural calamities and a great shaking&rdquo; and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-wiles-time-flee-america-due-gay-marriage">urged people to flee the country</a>.</p>
<p>End Times author Jonathan Cahn even <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jonathan-cahn-hurricane-joaquin-may-hit-dc-punishment-gay-marriage"> wondered if God would use Hurricane Joaquin to damage Washington, D.C.</a>, as a sign of his displeasure with the same-sex marriage decision.</p>
<p>The hurricane, in the end<a href="http://wtop.com/weather/2015/10/no-joaquin-plenty-wet-weekend-anyway/">, did not hit D.C</a>.</p>
<p><strong>4)</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>Pedophilia</strong></p>
<p>Following the passage of the 2009 law that expanded hate crime protections to LGBT people, many right-wing politicians and analysts <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/5-years-after-passage-hate-crimes-law-religious-rights-dire-predictions-still-havent-come-tr"> falsely claimed that the act legalized pedophilia</a>. Of course, it did nothing of the sort and child abuse is still a crime.</p>
<p>Many of these same people claimed years later that the Obergefell ruling would also legalize pedophilia, which, obviously, it did not do.</p>
<p>Robertson said the ruling would turn pedophilia into a &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-gay-marriage-will-legalize-pedophilia">constitutional right</a>&rdquo; and permit &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-gay-marriage-legalize-love-affairs-between-men-and-animals-pedophilia">relationships with children </a> &rdquo; (along with &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-gay-marriage-legalize-love-affairs-between-men-and-animals-pedophilia">love affairs between men and animals</a>&rdquo;).</p>
<p>DeLay warned that the ruling would pave the way for <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tom-delay-knows-secret-doj-memo-legalize-12-new-perversions-including-bestiality-and-pedophi"> a secret government plan </a> to legalize &ldquo;12 new perversions, things like bestiality, polygamy [and] having sex with little boys.&rdquo; Ben Carson, then a GOP candidate for president, <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/03/28/_be_they_gays_be_they_nambla_be_they_people_who_believe_in_beastiality.html"> suggested that NAMBLA would benefit from the ruling</a>.</p>
<p><strong>5)</strong> <strong>Outlawing</strong> <strong>Religious Belief</strong></p>
<p>Predictions about the government throwing pastors in jail, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-and-barton-warn-scotus-gay-marriage-decision-will-legalize-pedophilia-and-outlaw-bible"> outlawing the Bible</a>, and even <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/keyes-gay-marriage-will-lead-communism-and-murder-masses">murdering Christians</a> came flooding in after the Obergefell decision.</p>
<p>Mike Huckabee said that America was witnessing &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-defends-ex-gay-therapy-warns-gay-rights-will-outlaw-christianity-god-help-us-a">the criminalization of Christianity</a>&rdquo; and that any pastor who didn&rsquo;t want to officiate a wedding for a same-sex couple would be liable to face <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-defends-ex-gay-therapy-warns-gay-rights-will-outlaw-christianity-god-help-us-a"> criminal charges </a> :</p>
<blockquote>
If the courts rule that people have a civil right not only to be a homosexual but a civil right to have a homosexual marriage, then a homosexual couple coming to a pastor who believes in biblical marriage who says &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t perform that wedding&rsquo; will now be breaking the law. It&rsquo;s not just saying, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m sorry you have a preference.&rsquo; No, you will be breaking the law subject to civil for sure and possible criminal penalties for violating the law&hellip;. If you do practice biblical convictions and you carry them out and you do what you&rsquo;ve been led by the spirit of God to do, your behavior will be criminal.</blockquote>
<p>No pastor has been arrested for refusing to officiate a same-sex couple&rsquo;s wedding, reading from the Bible or preaching against homosexuality, all things that conservatives predicted would happen.</p>
<p>Some right-wing pundits even thought that the ruling would lead to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-gay-pastor-gays-demanding-christians-come-out-and-have-sex-us">forced gay relationships</a> and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-gay-pundits-predict-marriage-equality-will-lead-government-taking-children-christian-pa"> parents losing custody of their children</a>.</p>
<p>Many pundits, however, have wrongly used the case of Kim Davis to claim that their fears were realized.</p>
<p>Davis, a Kentucky county clerk, was temporarily incarcerated by a federal judge when she refused to abide by court orders which found that she was unlawfully denying same-sex couples marriage licenses. Davis, who boasted that she was defying the Supreme Court decision and subsequent rulings because she was working under &ldquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kentucky-clerk-denies-marriage-license-gay-couple-5th-time-cites-gods-authority" title="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kentucky-clerk-denies-marriage-license-gay-couple-5th-time-cites-gods-authority
Ctrl+Click or tap to follow the link"> God&rsquo;s authority </a> ,&rdquo; was released after deputy clerks in the county office agreed to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.</p>
<p>Davis was not incarcerated because of her religious objections but because, in her role as a government employee, she clearly defied the rule of law. She was not attempting to exercise her religious freedom as a private citizen but was trying to impose her personal religious beliefs on the functions of government, and make all the people in her jurisdiction abide by her faith.</p>
<p>As Janet Porter warned in her anti-gay film, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/light-wins">Light Wins</a>,&rdquo; &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gays-lighting-america-fire-mike-huckabee-warns-freedom-under-attack-fringe-anti-gay-movie">our freedoms are on fire</a>.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tXhDxhC3JcE?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></p>
Brian TashmanAlan Keyes Cindy JacobsCliff Kincaid Ben CarsonAnti-GayEnd TimesJames Dobson Janet PorterJoseph Farah Kim DavisLiberty Counsel Marriage EqualityMat Staver Matt Barber Mike Huckabee Pat Robertson Rick JoynerRick Scarborough Rick WilesSupreme CourtTom DeLayTony Perkins C3Family Research CouncilFighting the RightCarl Gallups75811Mon, 27 Jun 2016 16:35:50 -0500Marriage Equality